


Smoak Detective Agency

by alayneni



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 07:24:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 74,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11413062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alayneni/pseuds/alayneni
Summary: Felicity Smoak, Private Detective Extraordinaire, had thought she had seen all the possible types of wives coming in to investigate their husbands until Moira Queen walked into her office.





	1. Moira Queen

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Arrow. This story will have about five chapters and I'm aiming to keep the chapters short so that I can finish it quickly.

It had been a rough day for Private Detective Felicity Smoak. She had already informed two clients that their husbands were cheating on them and she was expecting to break the same news to a third client later that day. She hated sitting behind the desk while her clients looked at the evidence of the affair. There were always tears, plenty and plenty of tears, and anger. After that phase passed and her clients calmed down came the awkward period of time where she needed to remind them that they had to pay her for her services. A few clients in past had stiffed her, just picked up the pictures, walked out and never came back.

Felicity rented a small office in the bad part of Starling City called The Glades. Rent in The Glades was cheap but even with the cheap rates, she could only afford a one room office. People just didn't have the spare change to hire a private detective anymore. Her office basically consisted of an old table that would probably fall apart soon, an old executive chair, that a corporation in Starling City was getting rid of when they were giving their offices a face lift, and another chair she had lifted from said corporation for her clients to sit on. There was nothing on the walls but chipped paint. If anyone asked to see her certificate she would hand them it to see. She wasn't sure if the walls would be able to handle her pounding on it to put a picture hook to hold her certificate.

Felicity was a certified genius. She attended MIT and graduated with her masters but she was unhireable. She had fallen into the wrong crowd at MIT and got caught by the FBI's cybercrime unit for hacking into government departments. Technically it wasn't her they caught but another member of the team who then ratted on everyone. They arrested her on her graduation day. Her mother had cried for days. Part of the deal that allowed her to escape jail was that she could never work in the tech field again, which essentially made her master's degree useless to her. Her use of the internet was monitored by the local FBI field office in which ever state she chose to live in and she was not allowed to create any programmes. Frank, was her assigned monitor in Starling City. He came once a month to check her phone, laptop and tablet. He also made surprise visits.

Naturally, when the deal had first been made Felicity had been devastated. After being released she returned home to Las Vegas to spend time with her mother and regroup. While there one of their neighbours was going through a bitter divorce. The husband claimed he had no money and couldn't even pay child support for his three kids. The wife spent many nights crying in their kitchen and even though they were struggling themselves they tried to support her and her children as well. After one of the children got sick and the father never turned up, Felicity had had enough. She turned to her strength and went to a coffee shop where the wireless was free and hacked the husband's records. She found he was hiding 2 million dollars. Felicity gave the information to the divorce lawyer and the wife and children are now much better off. After that her mother started offering Felicity's services out to all of her friends. Felicity found she could make a living off it. Eventually, after her mother had a falling out with the casino she worked at, they moved to Starling City where she formally got certified as a Private Detective or Private Investigator whichever someone preferred. Felicity personally liked detective better.

Felicity liked to think that she helped people but it was probably more accurate to say that she helped them to divorce. Cases where she truly helped someone out of a bad situation were rare. She did enjoy finding lost pets. Reuniting people with pets was always wonderful and it gave her that warm fuzzy feeling in her chest that she had done something good that day.

She was about to call the third client when the door to her one-room agency opened. She had forgotten to lock the door again. An older woman in a pristine suit walked in and surveyed the small space. Felicity would recognize the woman anywhere. Standing before her was one of the most influential women in Starling City, Moira Queen.

"Good Afternoon, Mrs. Queen, are you lost?" Felicity asked pleasantly. There was no way this powerful woman was here to see her.

"Are you Felicity Smoak?" Mrs. Queen asked pleasantly.

"Yes," Felicity replied.

"Then I am right where I am supposed to be," she replied scanning the room again.

"Oh, well uh, have a seat," Felicity said pointing to the lone chair on the opposite side of her desk that all of her clients used.

Mrs. Queen scrutinised the chair, "I think I'll stand dear."

"I know it does not look like much but it is sturdy, a 250lb man sat on it yesterday and it didn't break. I stand on it sometimes to change the light bulb. It's quite comfy but you're not here to discuss my chair," Felicity said clamping her mouth shut. She had this tendency to talk when she was nervous.

"I'll cut to the chase Ms. Smoak, my husband's cheating on me again and I want to know who the new mistress is," she informed her.

"And you came to me?" Felicity asked confused.

"Is this not what you do?" Mrs. Queen asked confused.

"Yes it is but there are so many other reputed agencies in this city," Felicity countered.

"And my husband is paying all of them to lie to me. Hence why I came to someone he hasn't paid yet," Moira explained.

"Oh," Felicity exhaled.

Mrs. Queen pulled a sheet of paper and a wad of cash out of a leather briefcase she had come with. She placed the document on Felicity's desk.

"This is his schedule for the week and a $10,000 down payment," Mrs Queen said.

"$10,000.00!" Felicity exclaimed, "That's too much."

"How much do you usually charge?" Mrs. Queen asked curiously.

"$50 down payment and then depending on how expenses rack up about $300.00 in the end," Felicity explained.

"You're selling yourself short dear," Mrs. Queen advised her.

"Or your investigators were over charging you," Felicity fired back.

Mrs. Queen stopped to survey her critically, "Think of it as a retainer and a confidentiality payment."

"I keep all my clients information private," Felicity said offended.

"Good. If you find the mistress, I have another task I want you to complete. I expect daily reports," she ordered before walking out of the office.

* * *

Robert Queen wasn't like other cheating husbands that were easy to follow around. He had a highly trained team of body guards that would spot her tail immediately. She needed to be savvier and she was. Felicity had created a backdoor entrance into the city's security camera grid system for herself. She would use that to track Mr. Queen's route through the city without anyone knowing that he was being followed. The only catch was she needed to go somewhere with free Wi-Fi since her internet connection in the office was monitored. There was an apartment upstairs that had Wi-Fi but they usually didn't turn it on until they got home, which could be anywhere between 3:00pm – midnight. Today they were home by four and she was able to pull up the camera feed that had a view of the parking garage exit for Queen Consolidated. Mrs. Queen had so gratefully provided her with a list of the cars Mr. Queen owned along with their license plate numbers.

Felicity knew Mr. Queen's last meeting of the day was scheduled to finish at 5pm. At 5:30 she saw the town car that Mrs. Queen said he used the most pull out of the garage followed by a security escort. She followed it through the streets of the city to a large upscale apartment complex on the East side of town. Robert Queen got out and his security detail followed him inside as the cars drove away.

Felicity smiled to herself. That was half of the work done. She had a location, next was getting the pictorial evidence which was usually the toughest part of her job. Her office was in the opposite side of town and she knew with the afternoon rush hour it would take her at least an hour to get across town. She hated sitting in traffic. She knew that Mr. Queen didn't have any events that he needed to attend with his wife that night so she hoped that he would be spending some time with the mistress today.

She cleaned her little office and tried to spruce up the chair that the clients sat on. It was bad for business if the clients felt uncomfortable but then again, 99% of her clients didn't have the taste that Mrs. Queen had. Once she was satisfied that traffic had died down, she got in her car and drove out to the apartment building. As she arrived she saw the same town car pulling away from the curve. He had finished his rendezvous, rather quickly but she supposed he knew that his wife was suspicious and he couldn't stay too long without a proper excuse. She drove passed the building and parked at a park down the road. There were many children playing in the park. Given that this was an upscale neighbourhood she was confident that it was the nannies that were watching over them and not the parents.

Felicity assumed Mr. Queen would most likely be heading home but she would still keep an eye on the camera feed on her tablet to verify that. There were plenty of wireless networks to pirate in the area and she actually found an unsecured one. She followed on the cameras as his car made its way out of the city to the road that would lead up to Queen Manor. That road had no cameras but she had hacked into the QC home surveillance system and pulling up those cameras confirmed that ten minutes later he arrived home.

She exited the car and walked back towards the building. She walked passed the entrance and took a quick glance through the glass doors. She spotted what looked like a security desk at the entrance. That meant that strangers were prevented from getting in without the express permission of guests. This wasn't her first rodeo and she had quite a few ploys to get past security desks.

* * *

Two hours later she returned to the building dressed in a Big Belly Burger delivery outfit. She walked through the entrance and straight to the security desk. She slouched against the four foot counter that surrounded the desk and placed her delivery bag on top of it.

"Big Belly Burger Delivery for 106," she said as she chewed on some gum. She looked down at his desk and was pleased when she found a computer like she expected.

The guard eyed her wearily, "106 didn't order any burgers."

"My order sheet says they did," Felicity countered reaching into her pocket to pull out a crumbled up sheet. She placed it on the counter and tried to flatten out the sheet to show it to the man.

"They are away in France," the guard said to her.

"Oh, maybe they have an apartment sitter," Felicity said thoughtfully.

"There's no one there," the guard said gruffly.

"How do you know? Have you been sitting here the entire time since they left?" she challenged him.

"No but security is notified of such things?" he told her snootily.

"Maybe the memo didn't get to you. One phone call up can't hurt. I have to tell the boss something," she said chewing on her gum.

He turned away to pick up the phone and that's when she plugged a USB stick into the back of his computer. In 10 seconds a programme would automatically download onto it that would allow her to access their system remotely. By the time he turned back to her the stick was back in her pocket.

"There is no answer. No one ordered any Big Belly Burger," he told her cockily.

"Damn another prank call," she said frustrated.

"I'll take it off your hands," the security guard said pulling out the correct amount of money for the burger.

"There's $3.00 delivery fee," she said blandly.

"That's half the price of the burger!" he exclaimed.

She shrugged, "I need to get paid somehow or did you think I delivered burgers for free?"

He grumbled and paid her.

Felicity walked out of the building with a smile on her face. She had access to the system and gas money for the trip out. The only downside was now she needed to go back to Big Belly Burger for dinner.

* * *

The next morning she was looking over the security feed in a coffee shop when her phone rang.

"Hello Smoak Detective Agency," she answered, "If you need something found, we can do it!"

"Any progress Ms. Smoak," a polite voice asked getting straight to the point. She knew it was Mrs. Queen right away.

"Yes, I tracked your husband to an apartment on the upper east side, Ridgewood Towers," she explained.

"That's a new place but I suppose it would be uncouth to put your new mistress up in the place the old mistress occupied. Do you know who the mistress is yet?" Mrs. Queen inquired.

"No, I'm going through the security footage now. By tomorrow I'll have something more concrete for you," Felicity answered.

"I look forward to it," Mrs. Queen answered and then the line went dead.

Felicity stared at the phone perplexed. Mrs. Queen was strange. Most women don't look forward to the news Felicity delivers at all. Mrs. Queen had stated that this wasn't the first time but was she completely desensitised to her husband's adultery?

Felicity found the footage of Robert Queen's arrival at the apartment and followed him into the elevator. She pulled up the footage in the elevator and discovered he stopped at the penthouse apartment. That made a lot of sense. Powerful men often kept their mistresses in penthouses. A scan through the security camera list revealed that there were no cameras inside the penthouse. She fast forwarded through the elevator footage to the estimated time that Mr. Queen left the penthouse. The footage revealed that he entered the elevator alone. The mistress remained in the apartment. It wasn't until 6:00am the next morning did Felicity find footage of a red head female leaving the penthouse apartment. What surprised her was that the female was dressed as a cop. She zeroed in on her badge number and then hacked the SCPD personnel files.

The badge corresponded to Officer Carrie Cutter. She was twenty-five years old and assigned to work as a traffic cop. She had been on the force for the last year. It looked like three months ago she gave Robert Queen a speeding ticket that his lawyer had thrown out of court. That was probably how they met. Felicity did not know how you went from giving a man a speeding ticket to being his kept mistress in a high rise apartment.

Felicity drove out to the park down the street from the building and set up her drone. When night fell and Robert Queen arrived she flew the drone down the street. In her experience, people on the top floor hardly ever closed their blinds especially when there was no one who could look in. As expected, there were ceiling to floor windows and Felicity had a great view of Robert Queen and Carrie Cutter going at it on the couch. She recorded for a few minutes and when she was satisfied that there was enough evidence she flew the drone back to her.

* * *

The next morning Mrs. Queen arrived at her office at 2:00pm on the dot. That was the time that Felicity had set the meeting for.

"This is my full report on the service I provided and the supporting evidence. I also included a DVD with the recorded evidence," Felicity said handing Mrs. Queen a bound report with a DVD attached in the back.

Mrs. Queen flipped through the report. "This is impressive Ms. Smoak, very impressive," Mrs. Queen stated. "The last two firms I hired only gave me a slip of paper with the mistress's name on it."

She continued to flip through the report stopping on a few pages to read more information. After about twenty minutes with the report she closed it and handed it back to Felicity.

"Don't you want the report?" Felicity asked confused.

"I gleaned what I needed from it. Ms. Cutter is not worth $700 million," Mrs. Queen explained.

"700 million?" Felicity repeated dumbly.

"That is the amount Robert stands to lose in a divorce," Mrs. Queen explained.

"I don't think anyone would be worth that," Felicity commented.

"That's not true. It almost happened once. She was a cunning woman. She knew how to play the game well. My husband actually had his bags packed. If it wasn't for a fortuitous riding accident that broke my daughter's arm, we may have divorced over a decade ago," Moira explained.

"I've never heard of a riding accident being called fortuitous before. Did your daughter fall off?" Felicity asked curiously.

"Something spooked the horse and threw her," Moira stated but something in her tone implied there was much more to the accident.

Felicity wondered if it was something or someone that spooked the horse. Mrs. Queen struck her as the type of person that wouldn't be above making small sacrifices to keep her family secure in the long run.

Mrs. Queen pulled out an envelope and handed it to Felicity, "The payment for the excellent service you have provided me."

Felicity took the envelope. It felt heavier than it should have and there was a distinct bulge in the middle. She peaked inside,"There must be more than 10k in here Mrs. Queen!" she exclaimed shocked.

"Fifty thousand dollars to be exact. Please call me Moira we will be doing a lot of work together in the future," she stated.

"50K!" Felicity repeated.

"That's the standard rate I usually pay. I have to stay one step ahead of Robert. There's no need to stiff you on the payment. I'm very satisfied with your work. This payment also includes a retainer on the new task I have for you?"

"Which is?" Felicity asked absently as she studied the envelope in her hand. She had never held so much money in her hand before.

"I need you to follow my son."


	2. Oliver Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. In my last note I said this story would have 5 chapters but it's now ballooned up to 8.

Felicity stared at Moira Queen as she explained her situation with her son. Apparently Oliver Queen was coming home with bruises and limps. Injuries that he tried to hide but failed. Nothing escaped the sharp eyes of Moira Queen. She had confronted her son and he claimed he was breaking up a fight at Verdant, the club he owned with Starling City's other eligible bachelor Tommy Merlyn. Moira obviously didn't believe him as she suspected that he was lying to her. She wanted to know what her son was hiding from her in case it could get him and their family into serious trouble. Moira stressed that whatever Felicity found, she was to come to her with it first, even if it was illegal. Moira would handle it from there.

Felicity agreed to take the case, even though Moira gave off the impression that she didn't have a choice. Felicity then had to sign a confidentiality agreement that guaranteed that she would keep the results of the investigation into Oliver between her and Mrs. Queen. Felicity read it over carefully and Moira sat patiently as she did. Once she was satisfied that there wasn't anything too onerous in the contract Felicity signed it and Moira started giving her information about her son.

Based on the information Moira provided her with, Felicity speculated that the Queen heir was into some sort of underground fight club. Oliver Queen was notorious for getting into trouble but Moira revealed that in the last few years he had taken up martial arts, weapons training and fitness activities after his father had forced him to attend a nine month boot camp. Felicity remembered his face splashed across the tabloids her roommate used to read. Back then his main problem was women and alcohol. Felicity suspected he had moved on to the adrenaline rush that came with fighting.

Moira couldn't give her a schedule of her son's activities for the day because he never shared that sort of information with her so Felicity asked her to place a GPS tracker in the car her son used. She showed her how to use it and advised on good places to hide it in the car.

The Queen matriarch was able to provide her with a list of friends that Oliver was close to. At the top of that list was Tommy Merlyn his fellow cohort in crime. Felicity inquired if Tommy also had any bruises since it was a known fact that usually they got into trouble together but Moira hadn't observed any. She was sure whatever Oliver was into, he was into by himself.

There was a name that Felicity didn't recognise on the list, that of John Diggle. Moira explained that he was originally Oliver's bodyguard. He was extremely loyal to Oliver and never revealed what it was Oliver was into. He had moved across from her payroll to Oliver's. The two were apparently as thick as thieves.

The names on the list that surprised her the most was the famous Lance sisters that Oliver had both slept with. That debacle had been on the cover of gossip rags for months as they carefully studied the fall out. The elder Lance sister, Laurel, made the mistake of confronting Oliver about the affair at a public event. She had caught him and her younger sister, Sara, sneaking back into the event together. The Queen and Lance names had been dragged through the mud. It was intriguing that Moira would list them as close friends of her sons after that sort of history.

* * *

The GPS tracker Moira planted in Oliver's black Porsche said he was at his club. Felicity had never been to it before, usually she spent her nights staking out cheap motels. This was going to be quite a change for her. She pulled out a nice dress that she had bought but never worn before. Applied her make up and put on costume jewellery. The club was located in a bad part of town called the Glades. She didn't want to wear anything real and attract any unnecessary trouble. She waited until she knew her mom was asleep and then she left. If her mom saw her dressed up, there would be an endless tirade of questions she wouldn't ever be able to avoid because her mother had this ridiculous ability to pick up a conversation exactly where it left off no matter how much time had passed.

By the time she made it to the club it was 1:00am. All the parking spots were filled and people were parking in the street. Felicity refused to park her baby in the street. Who knew what would happen to it? Her car was vital to her job and she couldn't afford to lose it or have it disabled in any way. She waited in the car park for a spot to open up. Fortunately she only had to wait about five minutes before a couple emerged from the club. They appeared to be in the midst of an argument. Felicity really didn't care what they were arguing about she just wanted their spot so she could get into the club. She made a mental note that the next time she came, she should either take a cab or aim to arrive ridiculously early.

As she walked to the club entrance, she noted the black Porsche that was parked in one of the spots reserved for management. What she didn't expect was that there was still a very long line to get in. Word at the back of the line was that the club was packed to capacity and that they had to wait for people to leave before they could get in. Felicity had a hard time believing that. It was a Wednesday night. What were all of these people doing out so late on a Monday night? Didn't they have a normal 8-4 job the next day? She counted the people in front of her and started counting the people that exited the club. For every one person that left, one person was let in so she was forced to conclude that it was actually true.

It was ten minutes to 2:00am by the time she was allowed into the club and there were at least ten people behind her who were still trying to get in. The club was indeed very crowded. Felicity didn't observe anything special about the club. It was dark, with fancy lights and typical club décor. The entrance was about three steps above the main dance floor and that allowed her to survey the floor for her target but she couldn't find him. She looked up the stairs to what she could see of the VIP section and didn't see him there either. She knew that just because she didn't see him didn't mean that he wasn't around.

From the floor plans she had pulled up earlier she knew the door to the office was behind the bar at one end. She perched herself on a bar stool near the office door. Perhaps she could catch a glimpse of him returning to the office. A bartender arrived to ask her what she wanted to drink and she asked to see the drinks menu. He handed her a fancy menu with quite a few more pages than she expected. The drinks were sectioned off in price ranges. The first range was economy and it was cheaper than any other club or bar in Starling City. That answered why the club was packed. There were three more price tiers after economy ending with an ultra-premium tier. The last tier of drinks were extremely expensive and probably aimed at the customers that occupied the VIP area.

Felicity chose to order a glass of red wine from the third tier. It was moderately expensive but with the money Mrs. Queen had paid her, she could afford to enjoy one glass while she observed the door. The DJ announced that club was closing in five minutes and there was a sudden rush to the bar by patrons. Several men leered at her while they waited for their cheap beers. She ignored them.

The door to the office opened and Tommy Merlyn stepped out. She was able to use the reflection on the highly polished metal door to look into the parts of the office she couldn't see through the open doorway. She saw no sign of any other person in there. That meant he was somewhere else in the club.

The last song played and then patrons slowly started to filter out. Felicity sipped slowly on her wine. She wanted to be one of the last people out. A female bartender asked her if she needed a cab and she was struck by how considerate the staff was.

The door to the office opened and the young Mr. Queen stepped out followed by his burly bodyguard John Diggle. Felicity was confused. She hadn't seen them in the office. Where did they come from? Had she missed them in the office? She studied Oliver closely and thought she detected a slight limp in his step as if he had hurt his knee but since this was the first time she was laying eyes on him she didn't know if he regularly walked like that. She would have to look at the footage the paparazzi had taken of him over the years to compare it to.

Oliver Queen was indeed very handsome and she could see why a lot of women dropped their panties for him. He walked to the other end of the bar and went into the kitchen. A few seconds later he emerged from the door labelled staff only. She knew Mr. Merlyn had gone up the stairs to the VIP section but Oliver instead chose to work on getting the crowd out of the club. That was Felicity's cue to leave. She didn't want to be spotted by him. She drank the last of her wine, hopped off her stool and exited the club.

* * *

Felicity spent most of the following day reviewing paparazzi video of a drunken Oliver Queen with his flavours of the week before his forced entry into military boot camp. She then compared it to the most recent footage of him emerging from Verdant or going to charity events with the current flavours of the week. Boot camp didn't seem to quite break him of that particular dating habit. The major change she noted in Oliver was his physical appearance, specifically the way he carried himself. Not only had he bulked up, putting on more muscle mass, he also carried himself in a more disciplined manner. Gone was the boy that would flounder about and invade women's personal spaces. He was replaced by a man that stood straight, and kept people at a distance, including his flavour of the week. From what she could tell from the footage, up to last week there was no limp. The limp was new and must have happened recently at whatever thing the bored billionaire was into now.

Before the boot camp, Oliver Queen was a cute boy, he returned a damn good looking man. Felicity had actually dreamed about him the previous night. She hated to objectify people but Oliver Queen was an Adonis. No doubt about it. There were no drunken videos of him since his return from the camp, which was understandable since the purpose of the camp was to straighten him out and it seemed like it worked. There were rumours while he was away that he hooked up with the daughter of one of the instructors, Shado Gulong, but the woman had since married one of the other instructors Slade Wilson. Interestingly Oliver was Wilson's best man at the wedding. Felicity suspected there was an intriguing story there.

The GPS tracker showed Oliver Queen was in the Queen Mansion just outside of town. A call to Mrs. Queen also confirmed that her son was in fact home and hadn't used another car to leave. Moira also informed her that this was Tommy's week to receive orders at the club so her son was probably going to sleep in all day.

A knock at the door stopped her work. She put away all the research papers on her desk quickly and straightened the manila folders before she got up to open the door to her office. She had actually remembered to lock the door this time. She didn't recognise the woman by the door but from the tears in her eyes it was obviously someone seeking her help. She invited her in and pulled the last box of tissues from the bottom of her draw. She was going to have to stock up on those boxes again.

* * *

Felicity arrived at the club early the next night but she needed a stiff drink right away. Her work for her new client that night had left her rattled. Never had a case left her feeling so disturbed before. Felicity downed the drink in one go. The female bartender raised her eyebrow at her but Felicity ignored her and ordered another one. Being early meant she beat the long lines to come in. In fact she got the parking spot right next to Oliver Queen's Porsche. Her small economy car next to his expensive exotic showed the contrast between his family and her. His mother gave her $50,000.00 as if it were $5.00 she was spending.

Based on what she observed from her tracker, Oliver always arrived for the opening of the club and left after closing. She knew he was there somewhere and she remained at her seat by the bar slowly nursing her next drink as she watched the manager's office door carefully. She had to fend off several men that were interested in either buying her a drink or grinding on her on the dance floor. She did get one weird request for her to show the man her feet.

Oliver Queen didn't show until just before closing. This time she noticed some light bruising on his cheek. It looked like he tried to cover it up with concealer and he did a fairly decent job but if someone were looking for bruises they would see it. She needed to find out was going on in that office. She wondered if she could bribe a staff member to get her in there.

She noticed a young bus boy in a red hoody collecting the empty drink glasses from the tables as the patrons filed out of the club. He looked like he needed money and with what Mrs. Queen was paying her, she could afford to pay him for helping her.

"Hey," she said to him when he walked passed her.

"Clubs closing Lady," he said gruffly picking up two beer glasses resting on the bar next to her and putting it in the crate he was using to collect the glasses.

"Yeah I know. I was kind of hoping I could get a peek behind the bar," she asked.

He scowled at her.

"There's a $100 in it for you?" she said revealing the crisp bill in her hand.

"Sure thing Lady, whatever rocks your boat," he said. He picked up his crates and she followed him to the staff entrance. She slipped behind the doors with him into a kitchen area and watched him place his crates down on a counter to be washed. There were several other crates there already and three persons working by the sinks to clean the glasses.

He signaled for her to follow him through another door that lead to the bar.

"See, nothing fancy," he said. "Just like every other bar in town."

Most of the club was empty and the few people around were concentrating on heading out the club. She knew Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn had both gone up to the VIP section so the office was clear. She walked the length of the bar pretending to look around in awe.

"What's in here?" she asked when she came to the office labelled Manager only. Before he could stop her, she opened the door. It looked like every other office she poked her head into except this one was way more expensive. A large mahogany desk, a computer, leather chairs, a plush sofa, artworks on the wall, two filing cabinets on one side and then a door that was keypad protected in the corner. She frowned. She didn't remember the floor plans showing another room next to the office.

"Hey don't go in there," the kid said moving towards her to drag her away. "Tours over lady," he declared harshly.

"Thanks, my cabs here anyway," she lied following him back the way they came. As they were exiting the employee door, she almost bounced into Tommy Merlyn, with Oliver Queen standing right next to him.

Ever the charmer, Tommy tried to hit her up for her number but Felicity ducked her head and headed for the door. She could feel at least one pair of eyes watching her leave. She cursed her luck. She was not supposed to interact with the people she was watching. It could get her in trouble if they figured out she was the one that spilled their secrets.

* * *

The next morning she was pouring over the official building plans for Verdant again to see if she had missed the room that the office was connected to. She hadn't. The plans indicated that the office had a single entry door which was the door behind the bar. She was absolutely positive that there was a security key pad on the wall that protected a door that lead somewhere. There was also the fact that Oliver Queen emerged from that room twice and she was positive that he hadn't been in the office all night so there had to be another entrance into the manager's office from another part of the building.

Felicity was convinced the plans had to be fake and she tried searching for earlier plans filed when the building was being built. She found renovation plans and plans for the original building which was a steel foundry for Queen Consolidated. The original building had a basement and a basement would be the perfect place for an underground fight club. If the fights were held in the basement, the main entrance definitely wasn't from the club. It had to be from somewhere else in the building.

Felicity decided to make a site visit during the day and survey the exterior of the building. She identified the emergency exits and the service exit for staff but there was one door in the side alley that didn't have a corresponding door on the plan. That had to be the entrance to the fight club. She also noted the security cameras that were on the exterior walls that pointed up and down the alley so that they could see who they were letting in.

She returned to her car and pulled out her bag lady disguise. She threw on the dirty dress over her clothes and smeared some dirt on her face. She covered her head with an old dingy knitted hat and hid her blonde hair under it. She had several old torn bags that she swung over her shoulders. The bags were filled Styrofoam to give the impression that they were packed full with all of her possessions. She pulled out a small camera, no bigger than her finger nail and attached a special type of double sided tape to the camera. The battery didn't last long so she would have to remotely turn it on when she wanted it to record. She then returned to the alley, and walked slowly down towards the door. She made sure to swagger as if she were drunk and she leaned against the wall several times before she reached the door she was targeting.

When she finally arrived at the door, she leaned heavily against it and let her head rest against the cool steel door. The door was recessed into the building so there was two inches of door frame that she could place the camera on. She tore of the backing on the double sided tap and stuck the camera to the inside frame so that she would get a good look of persons as they entered. She doubted anyone would notice it in the dark. She then slolwy circled back to her car and gladly stripped the disguise off.

When Felicity returned to her office, she used the internet to view the day's news. Since the FBI monitored that connection she used it for superfluous stuff. The news headline indicated that The Hood, the local vigilante, had struck again. There was a whole page on the website that was dedicated to tracking the movements of The Hood every night. Susan Williams, the reporter that was obsessed with The Hood and the writer, editor and administrator of the page, encouraged persons to e-mail any photos or video of The Hood. Most of the pictures were blurry, dark or grainy or all three. You could barely make out a person dressed in green with a green hood and a bow and arrow. The night before he saved a couple from a mugging. Four criminals were now behind bars because of him. She admired him standing up for his community and protecting them. He was trying to do something good.

The police didn't appreciate it. Captain Quentin Lance was very vocal in condemning his actions. In fact, if she remembered correctly, at one time, Captain Lance had accused Oliver Queen of being The Hood. Felicity snorted at that idea. Why would the heir to a billion dollar company want to run around the Glades with a bow and arrow? Captain Lance was known to hold a grudge against Oliver Queen since the incident with his daughters.

The latest article said he had been spotted with his sidekick who Felicity called Mini-Hood. Mini-Hood was a shorter guy dressed in red that helped The Hood. By all reports he wasn't as well trained as The Hood and he was probably still learning. There was a running list in the article, of the number of people killed, arrested and saved because of The Hood. There was also a growing list of charges that the SCPD were trying to press against the unknown individual.

Felicity had never personally crossed paths with him. She hoped she would one day. She did most of her work at night and she knew that there was a strong likelihood that she would eventually get to meet him.

* * *

That night Felicity parked across the road from the Verdant parking lot before Oliver Queen arrived. When his Porsche pulled into the parking lot she watched him park and get out of the car. He seemed to have recovered quickly from that limp she saw earlier in the week. He strode to the front entrance confidently. Felicity couldn't help but admire the way his blue jeans hugged his ass and the way the grey t-shirt he wore pulled tight across his broad back. He really was a nice physical specimen. The flavour of the week was a lucky girl. Felicity would love to run her hand across his back and feel the muscles she knew were there jump under her touch. When he disappeared inside the club, she was disappointed that she couldn't admire him anymore.

She activated the camera and relaxed in her car with her extra fries from her Big Belly Burger order as she watched the feed. She was hoping to catch a glimpse of the people that attended the fight club. If she could identify a few people, perhaps she could score an invitation to get into the club she got in she planned to look around and hopefully with the use of a body camera catch a few shots of Oliver fighting.

Half an hour after the club officially opened she observed the backs of Hood and Mini-Hood exiting the door. She couldn't believe her eyes. Felicity paused the footage and rewound. Did she see correctly? Did she see two hooded figures emerge from the side door? She pressed play and sure enough two hooded figures, one taller than the other emerged from the side door. She managed to pick up Verdant's wireless network in her car and she used that to pull up the newspaper site dedicated to the Hood. The blurry pictures displayed sort of matched what she caught on her video footage. She then hacked into SCPD to look for the witness statements that described the Hood and Mini-Hood. Everything she read reconfirmed that the two figures she saw were actually Hood and Mini-Hood.

The revelation that she had found The Hood's base of operations left her strangely excited. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet but she was fairly certain she knew who The Hood was. If she was right he would return about half an hour before Verdant closed. That meant she had a nice four hour wait ahead of her.

At the expected time, the figures returned. This time the camera caught clear shots for their faces. The Hood was Oliver Queen and Mini-Hood was the boy that had shown her the bar. Felicity remotely turned the camera off and made a mental note to collect it the next day. She transferred all the footage onto a flash drive and then stuck it in her bra in case Frank wanted to do a random IT search at 3:00am in the morning again. She turned on her engine and headed home.

* * *

Sleep refused to come to her. She was in bed staring up at the ceiling. Her mother was in the next bedroom fast asleep. Her mind was racing with the dilemma that she now found herself in. Moira Queen had hired her to determine how her son was getting his bruises. She had done that. The next step was to write her report and call her in and tell her that he son was The Hood. The problem came in that Felicity believed in everything The Hood was doing. He kept his identity a secret for a reason. Not only was being a vigilante illegal but the people he put away might seek revenge if they knew who he was. Being linked to The Hood could be a very dangerous thing.

She fingered the flash drive that she had next to her. Thankfully,Frank had not been there when she got home. If the FBI got their hands on that footage, Oliver Queen would be in serious trouble. She needed to get rid of the footage ASAP. Either she gave the footage to Mrs. Queen or she destroyed it.

She played with the idea of telling Mrs. Queen that her son was in an illegal fight club or that he had in fact been involved in a fight at the club but she suspected Mrs. Queen would call her on the bullshit. There was zero threat that Mrs. Queen would turn her son into the police but she could possibly convince him to stop his heroic activities. Whatever she decided to do she needed to come to a decision by morning because that flash drive was driving her insane.

* * *

Felicity bought a new suit in the morning just for the meeting with Mrs. Queen. For some odd reason she felt she needed to be dressed to a tee for her. She wore a beige skirt suit. The jacket of the suit was trimmed with black lace. It made her feel more professional. When Mrs. Queen walked through the door she gave her a nod of approval before she sat down on the brand new leather chair Felicity had purchased two days before since she knew she would have to see Mrs. Queen again.

"Mrs. Queen,I don't know how else to say this," Felicity started but Mrs. Queen interrupted her.

"I thought I told you to call me Moira," she said in a pleasant voice.

"Moira," Felicity said with a tight smile, "Your son is the vigilante. He is The Hood," Felicity said cutting to the chase.

Moira Queen didn't show any reaction at all. Instead she remained perfectly still as she processed the information. No doubt she learned that skill from years of being in the public eye. Felicity handed her a detailed report with the flash drive stuck to the report. She closely watched Mrs. Queen as she flipped through and looked at the clear picture of her son dressed as The Hood. There was zero reaction.

"You knew?" Felicity guessed.

"I suspected as much," the woman actually admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me what your suspicion was?" Felicity asked curiously.

"I didn't want to bias your investigation," the older woman explained. "I hope we can keep this information between ourselves," Moira said, her voice carrying a subtle warning as if the confidentiality contract wasn't enough. Felicity tried not to be offended that Moira thought she would rat Oliver out.

"Of course. All the work I do for you is confidential," Felicity replied. "That flash drive is the only copy of the footage from the camera."

"Excellent," Moira said this time picking up the report and putting it in her expensive briefcase. She pulled out another brown envelope and put it on the desk.

"Your payment," she said simply, standing from the chair and leaving the office.

Felicity pulled the envelope towards her and peeked inside. There was definitely more money there than last time.

* * *

**1 Week Later**

With a newspaper under one arm, her purse on the other, and one hand holding her morning brew, Felicity struggled to open the door to her office. From what she saw of the morning headlines The Hood had broken up a major drug deal the night before. It brought a wide smile to her face. Oliver was still on the streets patrolling which meant either two things, Moira didn't confront her son with the information she had, or she did confront him and he ignored her request to stop. Either way she was happy to know that he was still out there doing good.

She finally managed to get the door unlocked and used her hip to push the door to the office open. She found Oliver Queen waiting for her reclined on her chair with his feet up on her desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Chapter 3 should be up next week.


	3. The Hood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hood doesn't exactly make a great first impression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

Felicity stared at the billionaire with his expensive shoes propped up on her desk. He was dressed in expensive black pants and a satin blue shirt the fit his chest snugly. He was even better looking in person with his 5 o'clock shadow and piercing blue eyes but she was not accepting this attitude from him. She didn't care that he was Robert Queen's son or that he was The Hood, he would damn well show her the respect that she deserved.

"Having met your mother, I'm a 1000% sure she taught you not to prop your feet up on the desk," Felicity commented. "Try and at least make it seem like you have some manners." She knew how dangerous he was. He could probably put an arrow in her and walk right out the door but she felt strangely safe. At least safe enough to verbally reprimand his behaviour.

He removed his feet from her desk and placed them on the ground where they belonged. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on her desk and leveled her with a piercing gaze. "I'm sure when you did your research into me you noticed that I don't always listen to my mother."

Felicity snorted, "That's an understatement." Since he was seated in her chair, she decided to sit in the more comfortable chair that her clients used. It didn't matter where she was in her tiny office, this was still her home territory and he was invading it. She had the home court advantage. She leaned forward and matched his position on the table. She forced herself to make eye contact with him and hold it. She pushed away all thoughts about how handsome he was to the back of her mind. She could review those later, after he was out of her office.

"I assume you want something. Your mother would have told you that I have no intention of spilling your secret to the public or I would have done it already." She kept her eyes focused on him. His face was completely stoic and he showed no reaction to her words.

"My mother is good at keeping secrets and you are one of those," he replied cryptically.

Felicity frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?" She tilted her head slightly to the right as she tried to analyse that piece of information.

"It means that short of putting a gun to my head or Thea's, she'll not reveal her sources. She confronted me with the evidence but she never revealed you were the person that discovered my secret. I had to do my own investigative work and you Ms. Smoak are terrible at covering your tacks," he revealed.

Felicity bristled at the accusation. She had been careful. She never directly spoke with him but she did have contact with Mini-Hood. She didn't know at the time he was involved or she would never have asked him. Maybe Mini-Hood had remembered her and pieced it together though that seemed like a long stretch. Not that she thought he was stupid or anything but he didn't strike her as being the investigative type.

"Was it Mini-Hood that figured it out," she asked cautiously.

His eyebrows pulled together, "Who?" It was the first facial expression other than stoic he had revealed.

"Uh, the red one that's always with you at night," she explained. "The papers call him Red Hood which is such a crappy name. It reminds me of Red Riding Hood and he's certainly not a little girl."

His lips ticked upward in a small smile and his chest heaved as he chuckled, "No I figured it out."

"Really?" Felicity asked was even more attractive when he smiled and she really wanted to see him smile more but knowing she needed to keep her head about her, she locked that thought away too.

"I may have flunked out of four colleges Ms. Smoak but I am not stupid. You cased the outside of the club as yourself before you used your bag lady disguise to plant a camera that caught that picture of me. You also asked," he paused here and his lips ticked upwards at the side, "Mini-Hood to see behind the bar. Sara also served you a drink and you had to show her your ID to get the drink. She has this bad habit of picking up women while she's serving and she thought you were cute so she filed away your information for later. At first I thought you wouldn't have used your real ID but it turns out that you did. That wasn't very smart of you, Ms. Smoak," he admonished.

Felicity leaned back in her chair and crossed her hands in front of her chest angrily, "I didn't expect that in a club full of hundreds of people you would be able to pick out one blonde."

"One blonde that nearly bumped into my best friend as you were leaving an area you weren't supposed to be in. Mini-Hood was disciplined for that and when my mother confronted me, you were the first person that came to my mind who had been poking around the club. From there it was simple enough to find you on the cameras. Very sloppy work Ms. Smoak," he continued to lecture her. He bent over the side of the chair he was seated on and picked up a manila folder off the floor. He slid it across the desk to her with one command, "Look."

Felicity leaned forward and opened the file. The first page had her Goth picture and all of her biographical data. The next page contained information about what she was arrested for and the full deal she made with the FBI. She looked up at him surprised. How the hell did he get this information? Her file was confidential.

He smirked at her, "I have more resources than you can imagine."

"For your information mister, I have a very active imagination so I doubt that. The simplest conclusion is you have a source within the FBI or some other law enforcement agency that could access my file."

He stared at her silently refusing to confirm or deny her conclusion. She leaned back in the chair and held his gaze. The Oliver Queen sitting in front of her was nothing like what the tabloids and papers portrayed him as. Even the video footage she had seen didn't come close to this. The man sitting in front of her was not the idiotic playboy. This was a man with a wandered if perhaps he suffered from multiple personality disorder.

"Back to the original question Mr. Hood, what do you want?" she asked. She was a little apprehensive about where the conversation was going to go. Oliver Queen/The Hood was a mystery to her at the moment and she hated mysteries. They had to be solved and she had a distinct feeling that this mystery would gnaw at her until she figured it out.

He reached over the other side of the chair and pulled a laptop off the ground and placed it on the desk in front of him,"I need to retrieve information off this laptop."

Felicity stared at the computer noting the horrible condition it was in, "Those look like bullet holes."

"Hence the need to contact a computer expert," he answered plainly.

"Mmmhh," Felicity nodded her eyes zeroing in on what also looked like a scorch mark across the top of the laptop. That poor, poor laptop, it seemed to have experienced a war. At least she knew why he had sought her out.

"I need the information today." His voice was firm leaving no room for disagreement.

Felicity's gaze snapped to his, "What?"

"I need the information today," he repeated. His face was still impassive but his eyes gave the impression that he expected her to follow his order.

"I have a job to do and since you have access to my file, you know I'm not allowed to do any tech work," she replied stubbornly even thoughher fingers were itching to touch the laptop.

"Considering the camera that you installed by my door, I think it's a fairly accurate statement to say that you make exceptions. This laptop is important." He pushed the laptop closer to her as if it were a carrot he was baiting her with.

"Whose laptop was it?" she couldn't resist,she sat forward and picked it up, carefully studying where the bullet holes were positioned.

"Tobias Church," he answered. "He shot the device to ensure that the information on it was inaccessible." The implication that the laptop was very important hung heavily in the air.

"The Tobias Church?" Felicity asked looking up from the laptop. That would certainly explain the war to go get it.

He nodded in confirmation. Tobias Church was the main gang leader in Starling City. The rumour was he came to town a few years ago and systematically started taking over all of the smaller gangs, either by killing the previous head of the gang and taking over himself, or making a peaceful alliance that placed him in charge. At first no one wanted to accept the alliance but after the third gang leader turned up gruesomely killed, people started falling in line under him. There was no drug deal, arms deal or money laundering scheme he did not know about. He was the big kahuna.

While most of the grunts that worked for him, lived in the Glades, he lived in a mansion not too far from the Queens. She had heard about the lavish parties that he held every weekend. Three months ago a young girl had over dosed at one such party but her body had been found in the forest. Everyone knew it had happened at the party but there was no evidence to prove otherwise. That may have been the incident that attracted The Hood's attention to him.

Based on the information she had been reading in the papers, The Hood had been making a major dent in Church's operation. If she was connecting the dots right, he had stopped three drug deals, one arms deal and found two containers of women coming into the Starling Port. If this laptop belonged to Church then maybe the information contained on the laptop could put Church away for good, assuming he didn't own the entire police department.

Putting Tobias Church away was a big deal and it would send a great message to other criminals in Starling City. She knew she had to help him.

"Since it is Tobias Church you're after, I'll make an exception this time," she informed him primly.

The smirk he gave her made her want to take back her answer and she had to remind herself she was doing this for the good of the city.

"Come to the club with the results. I'll be in the office waiting." He stood and walked out of her office.

Felicity couldn't help but stare at his butt as he passed her. He really was a fine male specimen.

* * *

After Oliver Queen/The Hood, she more thought it was The Hood, left, Felicity slid the laptop into her large Dr. Who bag and went home. Despite what she told him about having a job to do, she had no pressing cases at the moment. There were days when she had so many cases she didn't know how she would get them all done in time and then there were days when she stared at the walls of her office wishing for a case. Today was an example of the preferred to have something meaningful to do every day but it was the nature of the business.

Driving home all the thoughts she had about Oliver Queen's physical appearance assaulted her. She remembered the way his blue shirt made his eyes pop even more, the way his biceps flexed when he had his arms on the table, the veins that ran along his strong forearms and his large hands. She tried not to let her mind think about the saying about a man with large hands. As handsome of Oliver Queen was, he was a dick to her by just assuming she would follow his every command. Her current profession afforded her a first-hand view of relationships with jerks like him. It never ended well.

The tools she needed for this job were hidden in the lining of her sofa under the cushions. If Frank ever found these she would be in serious trouble. He would automatically assume she was doing some underground hacking. Her neighbour's Wi-Fi signal was up and Felicity hacked into it to check on Frank's location. The last thing she needed was a surprise visit from him. There was no way she was going to be able to explain a bullet riddled laptop. That vivid imagination of hers could picture her pretty little face being planted on the beige carpet right after he discovered the laptop. He would probably dig his knee into her back to hold her down on the ground while he cuffed her hands behind her back.

She looked down at the carpet and wondered when the last time she vacuumed it was?Her face was kind of sensitive to dust and she didn't want to end up in prison with a breakout on one side of her face. Scratch that, she didn't want to end up in prison at all. She focused on her laptop screen and it said Frank was in his office. Great she needed to work quickly.

"Come here my poor baby," she said pulling the laptop out of the bag and running her hand gently over the casing. "That bad man hurt you but don't worry, I'm going to help put that bad man away."

A thrill of excitement shot through at the challenge before her. She really had missed taking apart computers and putting it back together. It was what she was meant to do. She quickly immersed herself in her zone.

* * *

By late afternoon Felicity found herself at Verdant. His black Porsche was indeed there along with a white Mercedes that she didn't recognise. She knew it didn't belong to Tommy Merlyn. He drove a red Ferrari. She wondered if perhaps Oliver was entertaining a female friend at the club. It made sense. If he was out as The Hood most of the night that didn't leave him much time for a relationship with someone. He could use the afternoon hours to keep his female companions entertained.

She contemplated waiting until the person left but she knew he wanted the information right walked up to the door and knocked. She waited a little while before a tall dark man with arms the size of dumbbells answered the door. It was the bodyguard, John Diggle.

"Ms. Smoak," he said pleasantly. "I'm sorry he dragged you into this."

"You sound like you don't approve," she replied. From his comment she was inclined to believe that he was very aware of what his boss did at nights.

"I don't. You're innocent of all this," he explained as he opened the door wider for her to step into the club.

"Yeah well I can handle myself." She entered the club glancing around to see what the club looked like during the day. The answer was not much different from night. She noticed that Mr. Diggle surveyed the area outside before he closed the door. When he turned to look at her she continued to assure him that it was ok."If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have done it, though he could work on actually asking me kindly to do it instead of being so demanding. Where is he?"

"He's in the office," Diggle replied. "Follow me."

She followed Diggle across the empty dance floor to the employee only door. She heard giggles on the other side of the door and was prepared to find the Queen heir with his latest fling instead she found Mini-Hood and the other famous Queen heir, Thea Queen, bent over some books on one of the cooking stations. He had his hand around her waist and it looked like he had been tickling her.

At least she had been half right about the Mercedes. It did belong to a woman in his life just not the woman she assumed. The young girl turned to them and stepped away from Mini-Hood which caused him to frown.

"Who are you?"she asked curiously looking between her and Mr. Diggle.

"She's here to see Oliver," Diggle answered.

"Duh," Thea said with a roll of her eyes "He's the only one here besides us and she didn't come to see me or Roy. Who is she and why is she here?"

Diggle ignored the young Queen and continued walking towards the door that led out to the bar. Felicity smiled at both of them and then followed after the gargantuan man.

"Is she the new flavour of the week?" she called out after the offense to her, Felicity couldn't help but chuckle because she realised that his own sister used the same term to describe his steady flow of girlfriends.

Diggle stopped and turned to Thea, "Ms. Smoak is not here in that capacity."His tone was firm and serious.

The bodyguard didn't have to defend her honour. She was perfectly capable of doing it herself but his gesture was touching. She didn't know anybody that would defend her like that.

"In what _**capacity**_ is she here?" the young girl asked acidly. If Felicity remembered correctly, Thea Queen was in her first year of college at the local Starling City University. The business school at the University was recently named after Robert Queen and to encourage people to go to the school he sent his daughter there instead of the usual Ivy League school to show his confidence in the academic program.

"I'm here to fix his internet," Felicity blurted out so that Mr. Diggle would not be put in the awkward position of having to lie to his boss's sister.

"You need to come up with a better excuse than that. The internet works fine," she said picking up her phone from besides the books. Felicity noted they were math books. "See," her phone was playing some video off the internet. "This is the club's Wi-Fi signal."

The fact that Diggle had not stated exactly what she was there for meant that Thea didn't know what her brother did at nights but Felicity was uncomfortable with the girl thinking that she was there to have sex with Oliver. Felicity was not a one-week girl even if Oliver was the sexiest man alive, she was not going there. Before she could fully form her rebuttal in her head, her mouth opened.

"I am here to do IT work for Mr. Queen," Felicity insisted. "I'm going to upgrade his system."

Upgrade his system? What was she thinking? Mini-Hood who stood behind Thea was holding his hand to his mouth as he tried to hold back a laugh. Felicity couldn't believe he actually had the audacity to laugh at Diggle gave her a look that said that was the worse excuse in history.

Thea put her phone down on the counter and looked Felicity up and down. Felicity had chosen to wear a grey dress with yellow squares on the sides paired with high stiletto heels. At nights, she was always in black jeans, dark t-shirt, leather jacket to keep warm and panda flats in case she had to run, so she liked to dress up during the day. Her usual glasses adorned her face and her hair was pulled back into her signature pony tail. It wasn't the sexiest hair style but it was quick and practical.

"Clearly you nerdy types have fancy names for sex," she drawled not believing what Felicity said and turned back to the books on the counter, "Just keep the screaming down, some of us are actually doing work here."

Felicity narrowed her eyes and pulled out her tablet from her purse. She turned towards the door that Mr. Diggle was already holding open for her and she walked through it while she worked on her tablet. Just as Diggle closed the door behind them they heard Thea let out a string of curse words as her phone started making all these weird noises.

"What did you do?" Diggle asked.

"Nothing much. Just a little lesson on why you should never insult a nerd," she said.

She followed him along the length of the bar and he opened the door to let her into the office. He was very much a gentleman and allowed her to enter first. The door that was controlled by the keypad was closed and Felicity wandered if she was going to get to down into their base of operations. Oliver was behind the desk, reading what looked like an order in front of him when his blue eyes looked up at her.

"Did you get the information?" he asked gruffly. She noticed that he had changed his clothes or at least his shirt since he now wore a grey Henley.

She glared at him, "No hello, no how was your day? No are you alright Ms. Smoak, the FBI didn't catch you did they?" she turned to Diggle, "Is he always this rude?"

Diggle chuckled, "Sometimes he gets a little too focused on his target that he forgets that everyone isn't like him. Don't take it personally."

"It's hard not to do that when Mr. Queen treats you no better than a speck of dust under his shoe or in this case vigilante boot?"

Oliver stood from his chair and held out his hand to shake hers, "I'm very sorry about that Ms. Smoak. It's been a rough few days. Please call me Oliver. Mr. Queen is my father." The smile he flashed her was the same one that she saw on the cover of all the tabloids. This was the Oliver Queen charm. Was she now dealing with Oliver Queen instead of The Hood?

She reluctantly accepted the handshake. She tried not to notice the way his hand swallowed hers. He applied the perfect amount of pressure to the handshake. It wasn't too rough and it wasn't too gentle. He could have easily crushed her hand but he didn't. She also felt a few calluses on the inside of his hand.

"Again I'm very sorry that we got off on the wrong foot," he repeated sincerely.

"Actually your feet weren't even on the ground," she quipped. Her hand was still encased in his.

"I had been waiting a while. I decided to take a nap but your chair is harder than the ground. That position was the most comfortable position for the nap." He finally let go of her hand and she noted the blue jeans he wore before he sat back behind the desk.

"You could have had a nap at home. No one invited you into my office, much less my chair," She said sassily before her eyebrows burrowed in thought. "And how long were you waiting for me exactly?"

"4 hours."

She usually got into her office at about 10, "You were expecting me to be there at 6:00am?" she asked incredulously.

"No, I had a long night, it was simpler to wait for you than go home," he responded as if it were no big deal.

She gawked at him, "Don't you sleep,"

"Years of drinking and partying messed up my sleep routine," he said nonchalantly. "Between the hours of 6:00am and 10:00am I get my best sleep. You keep weird hours as well," he pointed out.

"The nature of following cheating partners," she replied easily.

Oliver inclined his head towards the Dr. Who bag, "Were you able to retrieve any information?" he asked hopefully.

A proud smirk settled on to her face. She imagined if she were a male peacock her tail would be on full display. "I got everything."

"Show me," he said getting up from his desk and offering her the seat.

Felicity put the bag on the desk and pulled out a laptop that was in perfect condition. "The other one is in the bag. I'll leave it with you for obvious reasons. I cloned that laptop onto this one. The bill for this laptop is in the bag, I need to be reimbursed for this expense."

Mr. Diggle reached into the bag and removed the damaged laptop and bill. He moved to the door and entered a code.

"Oh do I get to go downstairs?" Felicity asked hopefully.

"No, he's just hiding it away for safety. He'll be back," Oliver explained.

Felicity sighed in disappointment as Diggle disappeared through the door. She rounded the desk and sat down on Oliver's chair. She was surprised by how comfortable it was. She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes with a sigh."I could sleep in this chair, no wonder you thought my chair was like the ground."

A throat cleared next to her. She opened her eyes and looked up at Oliver. "Sorry chair distracted me."

"I noticed," he said. He was clearly amused.

Felicity felt her cheeks warm from embarrassment. She wanted to bang her head against his solid mahogany desk. She was not supposed to blush in front of Oliver Queen! Thankfully Diggle returned and started asking questions while she booted the computer.

"Why did you clone the whole computer instead of just copying the files?"

"Because it was easier. His internet browsers history was quite of his passwords to his online accounts were saved. We can log into anything we want. I don't think it has occurred to him to change his passwords."

She was cognizant of the fact that Oliver was leaning on the desk to see the screen and the action brought him closer to her. She could smell his cologne and she liked it a lot. When the desktop loaded Felicity started pulling up files of immediate interest. She showed them his schedule of shipments expected for the next six months, his list of distributors in Starling City,and his list of contacts out of was very pleased with the results.

"What are you going to do with all of this information?" She looked up at Oliver and she realised that he was much closer to her than she thought. "I think it is much more than The Hood can handle not that you can't handle things. I'm sure you handle things really well but this might be beyond even your skills, not that I'm bashing your skills or anything …."

"Felicity," he said calmly stopping her ramble, "I'll give it to the police. I know I can't bring him to justice myself."

"Oh, can you trust them? Furthermore, how? You're not exactly their favourite person," she said trying to discreetly role the chair a little bit further away from him.

"I'll give the information to Laurel." He stood to his full height and looked down at her. She stopped her creep away.

"Laurel as in Assistant District Attorney Laurel Lance, Captain Lance's daughter, the one who chewed you out publicly for sleeping with her sister, the girlfriend you couldn't stay faithful to for more than a couple hours," colour drained from Felicity's face when she saw Oliver flinch, "I said that out loud didn't I? I didn't mean to say that out loud. I know I have problems with my filter but it usually has some semblance of functionality. Maybe it saw your pretty face and stopped working. God I really need to shut up." She leaned back in the chair and slapped her hand against her forehead. "This chair really is comfortable."

"If it makes you feel better Felicity, you're not the only one that ribs Oliver about the Lance sisters. Thea gives him hell as well." Diggle was smiling kindly at her.

Felicity nodded in understanding then she looked at Oliver, "Doesn't her boss hate you as well? Well Oliver Queen you, I mean."

"DA Chase and I don't have a very good history. His girlfriend was one of the women I cheated on Laurel with but it doesn't matter who doesn't like me, she'll get the information in her mailbox so I will remain anonymous. She will know what to do with it. Her father runs the only police station that's fairly straight in the city."

Felicity nodded. It made sense to keep his identity a secret from the ADA.

"Any other questions?" Oliver asked.

"Yes there's one thing I've been dying to know," she said looking between him and Diggle.

"What?"

"Which came first the club or The Hood? It's like the typical chicken and egg question. Did you conceive the club to hide your Hood activities or was the club already being built when you realised you could use the basement for your base of operations?" It really had been bugging her about the order in which they happened.

He was saved from answering by a knock on the door.

"Is everyone decent?" his sister's voice asked.

"Come in Speedy," Oliver said. She noted that he took a huge step away from her.

The door opened and his sister stepped into the office. Her eyes scanned each of them, "You guys dress fast."

Oliver looked at his sister as if she had grown a second head.

"Oh please Ollie, you really expect me to believe that she's here to fix the internet? It's like I didn't walk in on you with one of the flavours of the week a few months ago. Why you don't use that panic room instead of the office is beyond me." Thea's eyes cut to the door with the security pad on it and Felicity realised that his cover for the door was it was a panic room.

"Perhaps because it is a panic room," Oliver retorted angrily. "What do you want?"

Thea crossed her hands over her chest and gave him an exasperated look. "The wine supplier is here. He has some new vintages he wants you to try."

"Wine," Felicity blurted out in a happy tone. She definitely needed some wine after her filter ran away. Two babbles in five minutes was a record.

When everyone turned to look at her she was ready to hide under the table but then she realised that Thea Queen would probably have a scathing comment for that so she straightened her back and looked Oliver in the eye, "If nothing else is required Mr. Queen, I'll return to my office."

Thea snorted and left the office.

"Sorry about that. She's been angry with me since I asked her not to distract Mini-Hood at work," Oliver revealed.

Felicity could understand how that would piss her off.

"Wait, so you have no problem with your sister dating Mini-Hood?" she blurted out. "Wow, what a way to keep it in the family."

Diggle chuckled, "Mini-Hood?" And then he laughed some more.

Oliver ignored him and focused on her again, "Thank you for your help Felicity."

"You're welcome," she said standing up to leave since their business was done.

She had reached the door when she turned around to face him again chewing on her bottom lip. He leveled his gaze at her waiting for her to speak.

"If you need any more tech help I'm your girl," she said but then she realised that could be construed especially in light of what his younger sister thought was going on, "I mean I'm a girl that will help you with tech, not a girl as in your girl."

He chuckled and Felicity was reminded how much liked the sound, "I know what you meant Felicity."

* * *

The next morning Felicity entered her office to find a new chair covered in plastic behind her desk. There was a simple green post-it on it with the words ' _Thank You_ ' messily scrawled across it. She didn't need to use her genius IQ to figure out who the chair was from.

Her old chair was sitting in a corner and a brown envelope was on it. She knew that was her reimbursement in cash. She walked over to her new chair and quickly pulled the plastic off of it. It was a brand new chair exactly like Oliver's. If she were still in IT, it would be terrible for her but as she no longer spent hours typing at a desk this chair was perfect. She leaned back and put her foot up on the desk. It was indeed a very comfortable position to catch up on sleep. She drifted off into a dream world where a pair of beautiful blue eyes haunted her. She was disturbed by a knock on the door and Felicity stood immediately. She didn't need her clients seeing her like that.

"Come in," she said glancing at the lock on the door to see it was indeed unlocked.

A middle age woman with a handkerchief dabbing at the corners of her red eyes came in. Great, she finally had a case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a review for Lessons Learnt at fanfiction.net, kaylaevans43 commented that Oliver could say the basement was a panic room so I used that idea for this story. Thanks  
> kaylaevans43.
> 
> Can anyone guess the chapter title for the next chapter?


	4. Thea Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

The first thing Felicity did every morning for the following two weeks after her encounter with The Hood was check the news for the arrest of Tobias Church. She had no doubt that he would hand over the information to ADA Lance. What she couldn't believe was how long it was taking them to make the arrest. They had all the information they needed gift wrapped and presented to them.

She had not heard from Oliver since that encounter. Susan Williams's webpage dedicated to The Hood became her new favourite webpage. She checked it so often she may as well have made it her homepage. Even Frank commented on the number of hits she had on that site when he made his monthly sweep through her apartment and office. He still hadn't found the equipment she hid in her sofa. It took a lot of self-control to not laugh at him when he sat on her sofa and reminded her of the terms and stipulations of her deal because he was literally sitting on top of the evidence that she was breaking the deal.

The Hood had been keeping busy stopping the usual muggings and an armed robbery. She was hoping that he would call her for some more tech help. She knew there was a lot she could do to improve his operation. She knew her IT skills were probably a bit rusty but she was dying for the opportunity to use them un-monitored.

The day finally came when word broke that Tobias Church was arrested on charges of murder, drug dealing, arms trafficking, racketeering, money laundering, and prostitution among a very long list of report indicated that Captain Lance of the SCPD had been able to flip two of Church's lieutenants and get them to testify against Church and provide the police with details on Church's operation. Not a single mention of The Hood's role in acquiring the information was mentioned. Church was supposedly under guard in the Iron Heights prison.

Despite her excitement over the arrest, life continued and she needed to do her work to pay her rent. That was why she was parked outside of a diner located 30 miles away from Starling City off the interstate. Her target, yet another cheating husband, was eating with this secretary. The body language between the two indicated that this was much more than a casual lunch but that wasn't enough to prove infidelity. She needed to catch them in the act which was why she was more interested in the cheap motel that was across the road from the diner. The motel was where she would earn her money shot.

She was contemplating how to get the shot when her phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw a number she didn't recognise. It could be a new client calling so she answered.

"Hello, Smoak Detective Agency."

"Felicity, it's Oliver, I need your help." From the tone she could tell that something was seriously wrong and if he was finally calling her it was probably urgent. She would have to work on this case tomorrow.

"Ok, I'll meet you at Verdant in 45 minutes," she suggested.

"Can you get here sooner?" he asked. She thought she detected a slight bit of hysteria in his tone.

"I'm 30 miles outside the city. That's the best I can do." She turned the key in her ignition and started her car.

"Ok, come to the side entrance," he instructed hanging up.

The side door! That was the door to his secret base. He was inviting her into his base. She was going to get to see the base! Whatever had happened must have been serious if he was letting her see the base.

* * *

Felicity arrived at the side entrance 43 minutes later. The door opened and she was met by Mr. Diggle. He led her inside and down some stairs into the base. She tried to take in all the details as she walked down the stairs but the yelling match between Mini-Hood and Oliver drew all of her attention.

"I didn't know they had tracked me!" Mini-Hood screamed. "You think I wanted them to take her. I beat the shit out of Cecil when he told me they had her!" Even though the boy was yelling, he had a stream of tears running down his face.

"I warned you to be careful Roy. You were just supposed to get the information about the drug deal and then get out. No one was supposed to know who you were. You didn't listen and now Church has my sister!" The vein in Oliver's neck was bulging and Felicity was afraid that it might burst open. His whole body screamed that he was ready to kill something.

"I was careful. It was certainly better for me to go than the famous Oliver Queen!" Mini-Hood spat back at him.

"Yeah a lot of good that did!" Oliver yelled back.

She turned to look up at Diggle. "What happened?"

"At 11.23pm today Thea was kidnapped from her campus. She was coming out of her statistics class when three men grabbed her and placed her in a waiting van. Her friends called Mrs. Queen immediately. Captain Lance was called and he's at the Mansion with his parents waiting for a call from the kidnappers. They're keeping it off the news channels. Roy also got a call from the drug dealer he was getting his information on Church knows that Roy's connected to the vigilante and that was the real reason Thea was taken because she is Roy's girlfriend. Church wants to use her as leverage to get Roy to draw out the vigilante for Church. The drug dealer gave Roy a number that The Hood has to call at midnight tonight. If he doesn't call, they've promised to kill Thea."

Felicity exhaled. That certainly explained why Oliver was beyond pissed. His sister's life was on the line but so was Roy's. It was a catch-22. If he called Church he confirmed the connection between Roy and The Hood, thereby putting Roy in permanent danger, if he didn't call Church then he put Thea's life on the line.

"I'll do what I can to help," Felicity said walking over to the dinosaur computer system in the middle of the room. "My mom has a better system than this!" she chided.

Oliver looked away from Roy for the first time. His anger deflated a little but it was still there. "You'll have to work with it. Anything you could find to help us would be great. I can't stay here and do nothing. The Hood doesn't go out in daylight and even if he did most of Church's contacts went underground when he was arrested. We know he was released on bail this morning but we don't know where he went after that." The frustration in Oliver's voice was clear.

She nodded her head. She had a secret online server where her hacker tools were stashed and it had a heap of processing power. She could have that server do most of the work for her. In order to find Thea she needed details so she formally introduced herself to Mini-Hood who she found out was name Roy Harper. He gave her the name of the drug dealer and she started pulling up his cell phone records to see if she could tie that back to anyone who might have taken Thea.

While she worked Roy paced and talked about the situation that they found themselves in. He didn't think there was any choice to make between him and Thea. Thea was more important. He could fend for himself. He knew what he was getting into when he joined the crusade.

After five minutes, Roy's pacing was driving her mad. "Roy, go out on the street and drop the word that you're looking for the vigilante. Also state you have information about the Thea Queen kidnapping for the vigilante and make sure everyone gets your phone number including people loyal to Church. At eleven, I'll have Oliver call you from a burner phone and record the conversation. We have to at least try to create a cover to protect you."

"That's a good idea," Diggle agreed. "I doubt Church would believe it but we can still try it."

Roy looked over at Oliver who had started beating the hell out of a piece of wood. Realising he wasn't going to get any order from his mentor, the boy sighed and headed to the stairs that led to the side entrance. Felicity felt a sharp pang of sympathy for the boy. He was in a difficult position.

The phone angle wasn't working out so Felicity focused on the details of the kidnapping. The information Oliver had been given was that Thea had been taken on campus by a group of thugs that loaded her into a nondescript while panel van. There were no cameras on the campus or around the campus but there were cameras at two major intersection a few blocks away from the campus. Felicity decided to try her luck and scan through the footage from the intersections just after the abduction.

She didn't find anything until Diggle sat next to her. He followed her trend of thought and applied his training. If he was the kidnapper he wouldn't pass through the main intersections but smaller back roads. He pointed out two possible routes he would have taken and at certain points there were cameras along those routes. She pulled up the identified cameras and she fist pumped when she picked up the van. The driver matched the description from the witnesses on campus and the timing of the appearance of the van on camera was right. The van was also speeding so she was sure they had the right van.

The minute she announced she had the van, Oliver moved quickly from the wooden thing he was taking out his frustration on, to the area where the computers were set up. He leaned over her to look at the screen, one hand on the back of her chair and the other one on the table the computers were set up on. Despite him being sweaty, she still picked up the subtle scent of his cologne. She never realized how distracting a hot sweaty man could be. She couldn't work under these conditions.

"Excuse me," she said looking up at him. He turned his head to look at her and she was again taken back by how blue his eyes were. She swallowed hard, "I'm trying to work. Can you please go back to beating the hell out of that thing in the back," she said.

Next to her Diggle chuckled.

"That thing is a Wing Chu Dummy," Oliver said standing up straight and putting a bit more distance between them.

She was pleased with the move until he pulled off his sweaty shirt to reveal his perfect chest. Her mouth went dry. She had wanted to run her hands across his back before but now she wanted to do so much more to his chest. She forced her eyes closed and tried to burn the image of his naked torso from her mind. She replaced it with that of a frightened Thea and she was again able to focus on her work.

At 11:00pm she forced Oliver to make the call to Roy on a burner. His voice modulator was activated and Felicity wrote him a script he was to follow. She set up the recorder and gave Oliver the thumbs up.

"Roy Harper," he asked in an intimidating tone she assumed he used when he was out in the field. She shouldn't find it sexy but for some odd reason she did. She wondered what that said about her.

"Yes?" Roy asked confused. "Who is this?"

"Word on the street is that you're looking for me," Oliver answered in that cryptic vigilante way.

"If this is The Hood, yes, I need your help. My girlfriend Thea Queen was kidnapped because Tobias Church thinks I know how to get in touch with you. I can't believe I was able to get in touch with you," Roy gushed. He was really selling his end of the phone call. "He gave me a number for you to contact him. You have to call at midnight or he'll kill my girl," Roy pleaded.

"What's the number," Oliver asked gruffly.

Roy gave him the number and Oliver hung up. There were no assurances that he would make the call and save the girl and no comforting thoughts. Felicity thought it suited The Hood perfectly.

Roy soon returned to the lair and she continued to follow the van through several back roads of the city. She lost them a few times on streets with no cameras but after some great guess work by Diggle, she picked them back up. Their final destination seemed to be a warehouse on the docks. She fast forwarded through the feed and she didn't see the panel van move nor any other vehicle come and go.

Unfortunately it was now midnight and time for Oliver to call Church. Oliver dialed the number Roy had been given. Felicity couldn't hear the other end of the conversation but from the way Oliver clenched his fist it wasn't good. She heard Oliver ask for proof of life and saw the way his body stiffened. When the call finished he threw the phone against the wall causing it to break into tiny pieces.

"Hey," Felicity said standing up and walking over the burner phone. "You respect technology when I'm in the room with you." She walked up to the pieces and gathered them together.

"I can clean it up later," Oliver's angry voice said.

Felicity snorted, "I'm going to fix it. You may not appreciate technology but I do."

"Oliver," Diggle asked in a calm voice, "What did Church say?"

"He said to meet him in an hour in the Gardens," Oliver answered. His forefinger and thumb started to rub together. She had seen him do that a few times that night and she concluded that it was a habit he had when he was frustrated.

"The Gardens are on the other side of town from the warehouse. What's Church's play?" Felicity asked aloud.

"Maybe they are moving her for the meet?" Diggle offered.

Oliver's phone rang, the ID indicating that it was his father. He left the room to take the call in private. He returned a few minutes later to announce that there was a ransom demand for Thea and the money drop was at the exact same time in a third location.

"We can split up." Felicity suggested."Roy and I can go to the warehouse and you and Digg meet Church. I'm sure the police will be keeping tabs on your father."

"You are not going out there," Oliver growled. His face and body language implied there was no room for discussion.

He had another thing coming if he thought she was going to back down."Why not?" she openly questioned him,"Have you forgotten what I do for a living?"

"Taking dirty pictures is much different to taking on fifty armed men!" Oliver shouted back.

Felicity tamped down on the urge to scream at him. He _was_ having a bad day. "Who said I was taking on armed men. We can sneak into the warehouse and get her out if she's still there. They expect you on the other side of the city. They won't be expecting us at the warehouse so I doubt there will be fifty armed men present."

"She's right Oliver," Diggle agreed. He had his hands crossed over his massive chest and he somehow managed to pull off an infinitely wise look. Felicity was beginning to think his role was being the voice of reason on the team. "We have the element of surprise. It would be a waste if we didn't take advantage of it."

"Great let me get my gear and call Roy from sulking in the back," Felicity said.

"However," Diggle said stopping her in her tracks, "You don't put the two individuals with the least experience together for a mission. Roy can go with Oliver. I will go with you. You will stay in the van and control the comms," he ordered.

Oliver bristled and Diggle cast him with a serious look, "Oliver you may not like it but it's the best plan we got." Diggle turned to look at Felicity, "I'll show you how the comms work and we'll get moving. We need to confirm Thea's location before Oliver heads into that meeting with Church."

* * *

After swinging by her office to collect her drone, Felicity found herself in a plain black panel van parked a block away from the warehouse. Diggle left her setting up the drone to do a preliminary survey of the perimeter. They had to be quick because in fifteen minutes Oliver had to meet Church. By the time she got the drone in the air Digg had returned.

"How is that toy going to help us?" Digg asked.

"That _**toy**_ is equipped with a very powerful camera. It has a night vision and infrared."

"Really?" Diggle questioned in disbelief.

"Yee have no faith!"

Felicity concentrated on controlling the drone and flying it over to the warehouse. The screen showed one person guarding the gates in front. She flew over the warehouse and they identified three heat signatures inside and then one guard out back. Digg confirmed that he observed one guard in front and one guard out back and no cameras or visible security system for the warehouse.

Before they left the base Felicity had pulled up the building plans for the warehouse. Assuming there were no illegal changes to the building, it looked like one of the heat signatures was in the bathroom and the other two were in the adjoining office. Diggle surmised that it was probably Thea along with two guards.

Felicity activated the comm units while Diggle left to infiltrate the warehouse. There was a slew of static on the line that Diggle had warned her about. They were pushing the capabilities of the device by being so far apart but he assured her their voices could still be easily heard. The static started to die down and Felicity started to convey her information to Oliver.

"Oliver, we have three persons inside the warehouse and one of them could be Thea. Diggle's in the process of infiltrating the building."

"Since there is more than one of us on this mission, we should use code names," Diggle suggested. The heavy breathing from his comm suggested he was climbing the outer fence of the warehouse. Her drone showed him at the south fence. The guard was about fifty feet away. She assumed he must be turned in the opposite direction since the red blob on her screen didn't move towards Digg.

"Oh," Felicity said over the link. "What is your code name? I assume the other two are Hood and Mini-Hood?" she asked.

"Mini-hood," Roy growled through the comm link, "Blondie, I ain't mini anything. If there's anyone mini on this team it's you."

"She does drive a mini," Oliver was surprisingly able to tease.

She knew both of them were in the building opposite the meeting point waiting on confirmation of Thea's whereabouts.

Diggle cleared his throat, "Focus please." He was entering through an emergency exit that was on the opposite side of the building from the heat signatures. The clock said they had five minutes left before Oliver had to meet Church.

"What do you usually use?" Felicity asked curiously.

Diggle answered for everyone. "Usually it's just him and I and we don't call each other by our first names but since its four of us on here that won't work." He was now in the middle of the warehouse crossing the open floor to the offices. There was no movement from the red blobs inside so they hadn't seen him yet.

"Arrow," Oliver's voice said, "Call me Arrow." Then in a teasing tone he said, "Mini-Hood can stay Mini-Hood."

At Roy's protest he eventually declared Roy was Arsenal and Felicity was Overwatch.

"What about?" she paused here since she couldn't say Diggle's name.

"Just choose a name for me," Diggle instructed quietly.

"Spartan," she announced as she noticed he was right outside the office now.

There was silence over the line with the occasional static as everyone waited.

"Spartan, I got some movement for the one of the guards. It looks like he's going into the bathroom," she informed him.

She watched both blobs emerge from the bathroom into the office. She heard the loud bang of Diggle kicking a door in and watched as his red blob entered the room with the other three blobs. She watched two of the red blobs start moving towards Diggle but then they stopped moving. She didn't hear any gunshots and she assumed that was good. Diggle was using a tranquilizer gun so she hoped that he had gotten to the men first.

"I can confirm that the duckling is here. I'm moving to collect," Diggle informed them.

Felicity had to force herself not to laugh. If Thea knew they were calling her that she would have a fit. The other two men on the line released very relieved sighs but just because they located Thea didn't mean that the mission was over.

"Ok," Felicity acknowledged, "Arrow and Arsenal you're a go on Plan A to apprehend and restrain Church."

"Copy that," Oliver said. His tone had dropped considerably lower and it sent a shiver through Felicity's back.

She followed Diggle through the building to the main heard him talking to Thea. He was trying to disguise his voice in a higher pitch so that she wouldn't recognise him. Felicity watched their blobs make it to the front door and then out to the main gate. The blob that was the guard never moved so Felicity knew Digg had tranquilized him.

At the same time that she was tracking Diggle she knew Oliver was doing exactly as Church requested which was to walk into the Gardens unarmed. It was a risky move but he had Roy who was supposed to be shooting tranquilizer darts at all of Church's men on the perimeter while Oliver spoke with Church.

"I heard you wanted to see me from a little boy," Oliver spat at Church. There was a little static on the line which annoyed Felicity. She then heard Oliver playing the tape recording for Church. "My sources said the boy spoke to at least fifty people begging for help."

"And as predicated you came running," Church replied. "I've been looking for payback. I know it was you that provided the police with that information."

Felicity finally got to hear his famous line. "Tobias Church you have failed this city!" The tone with which he said it was deadly and it caused another shiver to along Felicity's back. It was hard to reconcile the dangerous man she heard over the comm system with the playboy on the front of tabloids. Gunfire soon broke out and she flinched at the sounds. The Gardens had no surveillance equipment so she couldn't see what was going on and it was driving her mad.

"Arrow,I have secured the duckling," Diggle's voice said across the comms. "Overwatch, please conceal your identity."

"Duckling!" she heard Thea's voice screech in the background. Digg promptly turned his comm off as Thea started yelling at him that she was no duckling.

Felicity pulled on her ski mask just as the doors to the back opened and Diggle helped Thea into the back seat. Felicity hated the ski mask. She was sure her eyes holes were not lined up properly and it was affecting her ability to fly the drone into the back of the van. At least that was what she was going to give as the reason for why the drone crash landed on top of the van and Diggle had to climb on top to fetch it for her. A quick inspection of the drone revealed minor damage. At least it wasn't something she couldn't fix.

While Diggle pulled off she focused on Oliver's line. Oliver and Roy were talking to one another about different shooters and who was covering who. The sound of the gunfire was dying down so Felicity hoped that was a good sign. She was aware of Thea seated behind her in the van and she tried to ignore her but the young Queen was having none of that.

"I want to see Roy!" Thea demanded.

Neither Diggle nor Felicity said anything. She heard heavy breathing on Roy's line and she assumed he was running after something.

"You both heard me. Take me to Roy now!" she demanded.

"Who's Roy?" Diggle asked focused on the road in front of them. Felicity was fairly sure he was driving over the speed limit.

"Don't play dumb. That man told me why they took me. It was because of Roy. Roy knows the vigilante. At first I didn't believe him but then the two of you turn up to rescue me. I want to see Roy now and I know you know where he is," she said angrily.

"I'm afraid you've been misinformed Ms. Queen," Diggle replied.

"Well then I guess you'll have no problem with me telling the police that," she replied stubbornly.

"You'll get your boyfriend into a lot of trouble," Diggle pointed out.

"If he lied to me then he deserves it."

Things were silent on comms except for bursts of static here and there. Eventually Oliver confirmed that their situation was under control and they were heading back to base. The van started to slow down and Felicity looked out the windshield to see the front doors of Verdant coming into view.

"We've taken you to your brother's club. You should be safe here," Diggle said to Thea. He got out of the van and walked around to the back door. He opened it and offered a hand to help Thea out. She ignored him and jumped out of the van by herself. Felicity looked out the window again to see Thea walk passed the line outside the club to the door where Tommy was waiting for her.

Diggle circled around to the garage in the back that Felicity hadn't realised was there when she did her external survey of Verdant. It was very well hidden. She happily pulled off her mask and returned to the computer system in the base.

* * *

The first thing Felicity did was check on the police detail that was securing Robert money drop had gone smoothly and he returned safely to the Mansion. The money was still in play and the officers watching the drop point were ordered to wait and see if anyone collected it. Felicity doubted anyone was going to turn up.

She started to work on updating the computers while she waited for Oliver and Roy to return. She quickly realised that there was only so much she could do with the technology in front of her and started creating a list of devices that Oliver should invest in. She was adding the thirtieth item to it when she heard the electronic lock that controlled the door to the side alley open. They were back. Digg stepped away from the med table, where he had been preparing all sorts of instruments that did things Felicity did not want to think about.

As soon as Oliver rounded the corner he demanded information about Thea.

"She's upstairs with Tommy," Diggle said. "But there is something you should know."

Oliver turned towards him, "She wasn't hurt was she?" He walked over to the med table and picked up a few bandages, lidocaine and antiseptic spray.

"No but Church told her of Roy's suspected connection to The Hood. She was demanding to speak to Roy before we dropped her off and according to Tommy she's refusing to call your parents, you or the police until she talks with Roy."

"Ok I'll talk to her," Oliver said heading to the back to change with the items he collected from the med table. He returned twenty minutes later in a black dress pants and a deep blue satin shirt. Felicity knew he usually rolled the sleeves up but the sleeves were down leading Felicity to suspect he was injured somewhere on his forearms. He stopped to look at her, "We probably need to talk about tonight but I need to see my sister first," he said. He looked over at Digg, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Roy had a large slash in his arm and Digg was stitching him up. Felicity took one look at the pointy needle and almost threw up. Roy himself looked like he was going to pass out. Ten minutes later, Diggle's phone rang and she heard him say that he would send him right up. Roy soon disappeared and Diggle went about cleaning up the med station while she continued on the computers.

Sometime later the door opened again and she assumed it was Oliver and Roy returning but there was a definite feminine gasp that accompanied the opening of the door. Felicity turned around to see Thea coming downstairs followed by a sheepish Roy and Oliver.

"Oliver?" Diggle's tone demanded an immediate explanation for why his sister was in their base of operations.

"Mr. Diggle!" Thea said in surprise. "Wait, you're the one that saved me."

"We all worked together to save you," he answered.

Her gaze then turned to Felicity, "You! You're the girl from earlier this week. You work with my brother."

"No she doesn't work with me. I borrowed her for her computer expertise to help me find you," Oliver explained.

Thea turned to him with large curious eyes, "How many people know about this?"

Felicity actually wanted to hear the answer to that question.

"Besides the people in this room, Mom and Tommy."

"You told Tommy and not me?" Thea asked in disbelief.

"He kind of figured it out on his own. He's much smarter than he looks," Oliver said in a joking tone to lighten the atmosphere.

"Gee seems like everyone but me," Thea sulked.

"Dad doesn't know," Oliver offered.

Thea looked at him like he was crazy, "I highly doubt that. If mom knows, he knows."

Ollie's phone lit up with the image of his mother, "We need to go home. We promised Dad we would leave soon. You have to speak to Captain Lance in a few hours."

Thea groaned, "Why didn't he tell them after lunch. Why did it have to be first thing in the morning?"

"Be grateful you didn't have to do it tonight," Oliver responded. He turned to everyone else in the room, "All of you should head home. Digg can you make sure Felicity gets home safely."

"Will do," Diggle confirmed glancing over at her.

Felicity was too exhausted to argue with them about whose responsibility her safety was.

* * *

The next day Felicity was in her office reading the newspaper article about the arrest of Tobias church for the kidnapping of Thea Queen. Usually she would read it online but today she felt like reading it the old fashioned way. She was reading it for the fifth time when the door to her office opened.

"You really need to lock your door," Oliver reprimanded walking into her office as if he owned the place. Diggle was behind him and chose to lean against the wall.

"And you really need to buy everything on that list I left," she countered. "Your system will love you for it. And by system I mean your computer system, not your system." She waved her hand up and down his body.

He cracked a smile, "I have everything on order," Oliver replied. "It will be here on Tuesday."

"Good, I'll come by and get it up and running for you," she said with a large smile.

He frowned. "Felicity I don't think you should get involved in this."

"Too late, my life, my choice. Besides it was nice to use a high speed connection not monitored by the FBI!" Oh the things she could finally do.

"Another reason why you shouldn't help us," Diggle pipped up from the doorway.

She waved Diggle's concern away. "Violating my deal with the FBI is small fry. I do that every day."

The bodyguard arched an eyebrow. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

Oliver cleared his throat. "Felicity what we did last night was dangerous. You could have been hurt. You could have been arrested. The plan could have gone horribly wrong."

As Oliver continued to list everything bad thing that could have happened the night before Diggle kicked away from the wall and came to stand next to Oliver, "Felicity," Oliver stopped talking,"I think what Oliver is trying to say is thank you."

"Your welcome. I have a few jobs to get done tonight. I'll swing by about midnight to check on the new updates on those antiques you own," she said.

Oliver sighed, "Use the office entrance. It's safer. Roy and I will probably be out."

Felicity smiled. Both men turned around and Oliver put his hand on the door. He pushed the little knob that locked the door in and started pulling it behind him.

"I don't like this lock," she heard him grumble as the door closed.

Felicity found herself smiling widely. Who would have ever thought she would have Oliver Queen in her office complaining about her lock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up in the next chapter, The Salmon Ladder!


	5. John Diggle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

Shortly after the Thea Queen kidnapping, Felicity was inundated with cases. Usually she liked the upswing in cases but now that she had somewhere she really wanted to be at night, she was hating it. With the money Mrs. Queen had paid her, she could have afforded to have a few slow months. She really wanted to spend her time creating a beautiful IT system in The Arrow's base but somewhere out there in the Universe there was some force that liked to torture her.

She spent most of her nights in her car outside a cheap motel waiting to get the money shots. She would then sleep the next morning away and only have time to write the report and then get back in her car to take more dirty pictures. She was lucky if she was able to squeeze in an hour at the base. Once or twice Oliver had asked her to work comms when he needed Diggle in the field and she refused to tell him no, prioritising the Arrow's requests over her own cases. The result was a couple sleepless nights.

The base was slowly beginning to look completely different to the room she had first walked into over a month ago. One of the first things she made Oliver do was change the lighting in the base. The previous standing lights he used were terrible. She got him to install overhead fluorescent lights that really illuminated the various work areas. She then changed out all the monitors and added several large touch screen TVs for briefings before missions. Roy kept grumbling about women messing up their system but Felicity ignored him.

The new comm system she sourced was fantastic. The static had cleared right up and Digg liked how the GPS was connected to it and he could keep track of where they were in the field much better than before. Oliver was a greet dot, Roy a red and Digg a black one when they were all out there. When they entered buildings, she also created a program to overlay the GPS position onto the building schematics.

Felicity was pleased that the team was happy with her work but what she was really proud of were the server racks that she had put in the back of the liar. The base had more processing power than all of Starling City combined. She created several algorithms to track the police radios and 911 calls. She even hacked into a few of the private security companies so that they would know when private alarms were triggered before the police.

Thea and Roy were still together but he was in the doghouse for lying to her. She had heard from him that Thea had tried to drop by a few times but Oliver refused to let her in. The code on the door inside Verdant had been changed and only Oliver and Digg knew the code. Oliver suspected his sister was going to try to use Tommy or Roy to get in and thus he refused to share the new code with them. Thea did not know about the side entrance and no one was allowed to tell her about it.

Her cases slowly started to die down as she started heading into another slow period and she got to spend more time in the base. She discovered that she preferred to work during the day when no one was around. She got a lot more done. When the boys were out in the field she spent most of her time on comms guiding them instead of working on her upgrades. After that, the next biggest distraction was Oliver's workout routine. On nights with no action, Oliver would return to their base and exercise. His favourite exercise was something called the salmon ladder and he liked to do that shirtless. Chunks of Felicity's time disappeared when he was on it. The salmon ladder routine even invaded her dreams. She would be dreaming about the latest code she was working on, or her and Dr. Who on some adventure and then she would hear the distinctive sound of the metal bar being moved up one rung. She would look around her dream world and there in a little corner of the world she would spot Oliver naked on the salmon ladder. In her dream Oliver was always naked on the salmon ladder.

After Oliver started taking up more and more dream time, Felicity was forced to admit that she was completely smitten with him. She tried to tell herself that it was just biology. She was a single female of reproductive age and he was a strong handsome male in excellent condition. It made sense that she would feel attracted to him. That was how nature worked. She just needed to rise above her primal instincts and be a working professional. She wasn't there because of Oliver. She was there because she believed in his cause. Staring at a shirtless Oliver was just a bonus benefit she got for being there. In fact he was the only benefit of her second job.

She realised working with Oliver was becoming problematic. She was beginning to get very jealous of his girlfriends. She didn't know why she knew his daily itinerary but she always did. For instance, today he had dinner with the current flame, Hannah, at Jade Dragon before coming straight to the base. She didn't know what Diggle did all day or what Roy did but she always knew what Oliver did during his time away from the base and it wasn't like she researched the information. He had a habit of letting her know what he was up to. He either told her directly or stood next to her while she was working and spoke on speaker phone to his flames.

As far as she was concerned, none of the six she had heard him interact with knew the real him. They all fell for his façade. Felicity had learnt the difference between his public persona and the real him. His smiles were different, the tone of his voice was different, hell even the way he moved was different. He was stiff in public. She could tell that everything he did was calculated. However, when no one was watching, he was more relaxed, more loose and fluid.

His phone that he left on her workstation every time he went in the field rang. A picture of Hannah's smiling face came up. This one was a redhead and it reminded her of the first case she did for Mrs. Queen that set off this whole chain of events. That was the third time in five minutes that the woman had called and it was seriously pissing her off.

She opened a comm line, "Arrow, you need to return to base. The other you is needed."

"What's wrong," came his concerned tone.

"Don't know but your phone is ringing," she said curtly. The green dot on the screen indicated he was only three blocks away. He could get there quickly and take care of whatever it was that the redhead needed. Her thoughts started to guess what those needs might be and she had to bring them to an abrupt halt when they started spiralling into things of a physical nature.

"Can you patch it through Overwatch?" he asked.

"Of course I could but we have codenames for a reason. You started early tonight. Come in," she ordered.

"Affirmative," he responded.

She watched with a satisfied grin as the green and red dots started to make their way back to base.

Twenty minutes and fifteen calls later, Oliver's green leather self appeared next to her. Roy went off to change and give them some privacy.

"What is it?" he asked concerned. He was standing less than a foot away from her and she had to crane her neck to look up at him. Gosh he was tall.

"Your girlfriend," was their bitterness in her tone, she didn't think there was bitterness in her tone, "Is calling repeatedly."

As if Hannah knew they were talking about her, the phone started to ring again. She really hated that ring tone. He used the same one for all of his play things.

"Before you answer that you should know that there are no police reports or fire reports for anything near her building. Her building security is fine and I even hacked the camera on her phone and she's physically fine," Felicity informed him brusquely. She left out the part about Hannah pacing madly about her room and crying her eyes out.

Oliver nodded and answered the phone ending the annoying noise that was coming from it. Thankfully he did not put it on speaker but he didn't leave her zone either so she was subjected to his conversation with Hannah.

"Ok, calm down," Oliver said and Felicity winced. Those weren't words you really wanted to say to a hysterical woman. He discovered that the hard way when he pulled the phone away from his ear. She could hear a female voice was screeching at him. When they could no longer hear the voice coming through the phone Oliver returned it to his ear.

"I can't understand what you're saying," he said to her. "Please slow down."

"I was in the bathroom. I left my phone in the kitchen. I didn't know it was ringing." She must have asked him why he didn't answer any of her previous zillion phone calls.

"What do you mean you hit someone?" he asked confused.

Felicity sat straighter in her seat. Did Hannah get into a cat fight?

"You had a fender bender?" he asked carefully. His hand came to rest on the back of her chair and he supported some of his weight on it.

Ok not a person but a car. She hit a car. Felicity started pulling up accident reports.

"You didn't hit a car? Then what did you hit?" He sounded even more confused than before.

Felicity refined her search to cars hitting property until she heard Oliver's next words.

"You hit a person," his tone was incredulous.

Felicity then started looking for hit and runs because Hannah didn't strike her as the type of person to stick around and one report came up. At 8:15pm, which would have been roughly after Hannah's date with Oliver at Jade Dragon had finished, a homeless man was run over by a black Mercedes. The driver didn't stick around and none of the witnesses got the plate number. It occurred at an intersection that didn't have a camera. She put the report on the large touch screen for Oliver to read.

"No I can't make that go away," Oliver said in an angry tone as he walked over to the screen and started reading the report.

"What do you mean I'm being selfish?" Oliver asked irritated.

Felicity flinched. Hannah had no idea what was about to happen.

"If it were me Hannah, I would have stopped and helped the man I hit. He probably would have survived if he got help right away. I would have talked to the police and given my statement. You've made things ten times worse by leaving the scene."

Oliver pulled the phone away from his ear again and Felicity could hear Hannah's voice yelling at him from where she was seated. She sounded even angrier than before. Oliver walked back over and put the phone down on her workstation, Hannah's angry voice still coming through it.

He leaned down next to Felicity, "Send an anonymous tip to Lance with Hannah's license plate number. He can find the car from there."

His scent invaded her senses and her heart rate ticked up a bit at his proximity. She was barely able to keep track of what he said because her mind went straight to the gutter.

He went back to the phone and cut Hannah off, "The most I can do is get Captain Lance to interview you. It's either that or nothing." He paused for a few seconds, "Then it's nothing Hannah. Goodbye."

Oliver ran his hand through his hair frustrated. It was a little longer than usual but Felicity liked it like that. He handed her the phone, "Please block her number for me."

She arched her eyebrow, "You don't think she at least deserves to be dumped in person?"

"In a few days after the dust settles," he paused to look around the base, "Where's Diggle?"

"He got a call earlier and had to leave," she relayed. She was working on pulling up Captain Lance's e-mail so she could drop a note directly into his e-mail box with Hannah's license plate number. She knew it was highly doubtful that he would see it that night. He struck her as the type of man that grudgingly checked his e-mail once a day. She purposely did it that way to give Hannah some time to come clean. It would be much easier on her if she did it herself rather than the police finding her.

"Was it something to do with Carly or AJ?" he asked concerned.

"I don't know," Felicity replied honestly. From the little she had learnt about John Diggle, he had a sister-in-law named Carly that worked at Big Belly Burger. She had been married to his deceased brother Andy and they had a son together named AJ. Diggle did his best to help her raise AJ in Andy's absence.

"He'll call if he need us," Oliver said confidently. He headed to the back to change and passed Roy as he was returning to their area.

"So how much of that did you hear Roy?" Felicity asked while she went back to work.

"I don't eavesdrop Blondie," he responded.

"Right, and I'm the Queen of England," she said sarcastically.

"Soon to be Queen of Starling," he corrected heading to the alley exit.

Felicity shook her head. She was just about to get back into the zone when a shirtless Oliver Queen appeared and headed straight to the salmon ladder.

Clink

Clink

Clink

There went the rest of the night.

* * *

Since Oliver kept interfering with the amount of work that she was successfully able to achieve at night, she decided to come in early. Her contact number was on her door if anyone needed her they could call. She was working on revamping the firewalls when Oliver arrived just after five. That was extremely early for him to be in the base and she knew immediately something was wrong.

"You're here early," they both said at the same time.

They stopped and stared at each other and Felicity just couldn't let the silence be and started babbling.

"It's been slow at the day job. I finished up the last report for my client but I have no new cases so I thought since I had time available I could actually get some proper work done around here without staring at you on the salmon ladder," her eyes widened. She couldn't believe she had just admitted out loud to him that she watched him do the ladder. "And you did not need to know that last part."

He smiled widely at her. She could see the dimples in his cheeks and a sparkle in his eyes and she knew he was amused with her but like always, he eased her up on her embarrassment by changing the topic of conversation.

"I actually came down here looking for John. I haven't seen him all day." His face changed to a slight frown and she knew he was worried.

"Haven't seen him either," she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. John didn't seem like the type to just disappear without letting anyone know. She pulled up the GPS tracker on his phone. "According to his phone he's in his apartment and according to his phone history he's been using it all day so I think he's safe."

"Ok," Oliver nodded. She caught sight of a mischievous look in his eyes before he strolled over to the salmon ladder, pulled his t-shirt off and jumped up to the bar. She really needed to find that force in the universe that hated her. How was she supposed to stay professional?

The computer pinged alerting her to the fact that someone had entered the lair. She thought it might be Diggle but a familiar red hoody appeared.

"Why are you both here?" Roy asked upset. "This is my practice time. Why must I be subjected to this weird mating dance you two got going on?"

"What are you talking about?" Felicity asked.

"Seriously?" Roy said. "He hasn't been exercising shirtless every night and your skirts haven't gotten shorter since you started coming down here?"

Felicity looked at her skirt and shifted in her seat trying to pull it down her legs, "This is my standard length. I don't know what you're talking about."

Roy rolled his eyes at her, "I'll be in the back practicing my aim."

"It better be on target Roy because if you hit my server rack again, I can guarantee you my server's won't be the only thing requiring surgery to fix," her tone made it clear that Roy would regret it. She had spent three days fixing her babies after the first time he did that.

Roy rolled his eyes and walked away from her and her gaze automatically landed on Oliver who was halfway up the ladder. At least she didn't need to add a TV to the base for entertainment.

* * *

It wasn't until an hour later that Diggle finally arrived in the base. He came through the side entrance and walked straight over to her station.

"Everything ok?" Oliver asked. He had moved on from the salmon ladder to practicing some type of kata with a sword right in front of her computer station. His shirt was still MIA too.

"Lyla went missing on a mission in Russia," he said gravely. His whole posture was tense and he didn't look like he had slept at all last night. "ARGUS is refusing to retrieve her. They aren't officially supposed to be there so Waller's refusing to send reinforcements. I've been trying to find out what mission Lyla was on but..."

"Let me guess," Oliver said stopping his kata and standing up straight to face Digg. "Waller's refusing to provide any information."

Diggle gave a reluctant nod. "I'm hoping if I fly out there, her partner could brief me on what happened. The earliest flight I could get is two days from now."

"I'll book the jet," Oliver said immediately walking around her computers to his cell phone that was next to her keyboard.

"Oliver you don't have to do that," Diggle insisted.

"I do. Lyla's important to you so she's important to me as well," Oliver insisted. He raised the phone to his ear and spoke to someone about getting the plane ready as soon as possible for a flight to Moscow for him and Diggle. Oliver listened to the response and then thanked the person before hanging up.

"Go home and pack. I'll see you tomorrow at the airstrip at 8:00am," Oliver ordered.

Both men maintained eye contact and Felicity found herself turning her head from side to side between both men. It was a silent battle of wills. Diggle wanted to do whatever it was he was doing on his own, and Oliver was being insistent on Diggle accepting help. Felicity wanted to say something but she knew she was missing a lot of information. For starters she didn't know who this Lyla was or the nature of her relationship to John. She didn't who or what R Gus was or if it was even R Gus that he said. There was also mention of a Waller. She knew if she asked for clarification she wasn't going to get an answer which meant that whatever work she had planned for that night was going to be put on the back burner again. Her fingers had some research to conduct.

Diggle eventually backed down. "Ok," he said. "I'll be there at 8:00am sharp." Diggle nodded at Felicity before he left the way he came.

"Roy," Oliver called to at the back of the room.

"I got no passport man," Roy replied immediately.

"And you don't eavesdrop," Felicity said turning to face him.

He had the gall to stick his tongue out at her.

"You got the next few days off. Both of you." Oliver said. "Keep out of trouble."

Roy nodded his head and went back to practicing his aim while Oliver started gathering equipment in the base into a series of black bags. Felicity mentally catalogued everything he packed. She saw a bunch of medical supplies, a pair of escrima sticks, flashlights, comm gear, and some other items Felicity wasn't familiar with placed into the bags. When he was finished he picked up the bags and left without saying goodbye to either to them.

As soon as she heard the door lock behind him, Felicity jumped from her seat and went over to Mini-Hood. She was sure he would know something.

"Who is Lyla?" she asked. He had an arrow knocked and had drawn the bow back as he focused on his target.

"Don't know. They've mentioned her a few times when they needed help in the past," Roy explained letting the arrow fly. He skimmed the edge of his target.

"And what about R Gus?" she prodded further.

Roy dropped his bow to his side and looked at her, "Some sort of secret government agency. Why exactly are you asking?"

Felicity shrugged, "I like to know what I'm dealing with. For instance that was a terrible shot. I gave you the benefit of the doubt before but I think you should start practicing on the other side of the base where there are no computers for you to hit."

"Hey, I was here first!" he protested.

"Seniority here isn't based on time served. Besides didn't Oliver tell you that if you hit another one of my computers he'll put you back to slapping water?" she asked. She heard Roy grumble several times about the dish of water he had to slap when he first started training.

"Look blondie, I told you that was an accident and it won't happen again," Roy said irritated.

She smiled wickedly, "Unless I imply it did to Oliver. Now move."

Roy scowled at her. He walked over to his target, picked it up and moved to the other side of the base. The entire time he was grumbling about bossy women upsetting the apple cart.

* * *

Felicity arrived at the air strip the next morning a little before 8:00am. It was a private airport outside of Starling City where the one percenters kept their private jets. She knew the Queen jet was parked in one of the hangers and it had been fueled over an hour ago. The necessary flight plans had been filed and they had clearance to leave. She walked into the main building which consisted of the office that ran the airstrip and a team that catered to the needs of the one percenters.

The entrance spoke of wealth. Marble floors, expensive potted plants, plush sofas for travelers to relax on, a bar that served only premium liquor and waitresses that walked around with skirts shorter than her own. She spotted Oliver seated by the bar. A waitress was trying to chat with him but he didn't look interested. Before she could even head in his direction, he spotted her. He jumped off his chair and in three long strides was at her side.

"Fe li ci ty," he said, his left hand wrapping around her right arm and pulling her to the side behind a large palm plant where they could have some privacy. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help," she rolled her eyes. It was obvious that was why she was there.

"We are going to a foreign country. Russia is very different to America," he stressed.

"Oliver I know that. I studied Geography. I know how far away Russia is. I can help you. I'm all packed," she looked down at the rollie next to her to emphasize her point. She had a large suitcase which had all of her clothes, toiletries and accessories. Her laptop and tablet were on a bag on her shoulder along with her purse. "Remember no cases. This will be the perfect vacation for me."

"This will hardly be a vacation," Oliver replied. He looked around to see if anyone was listening to them. When he was satisfied that they weren't attracting any attention he returned his gaze to her.

"Ah but it's my type of vacation. I don't do normal vacations. I get bored to tears. I always need to be doing something meaningful," Felicity stressed.

Diggle appeared out of nowhere next to her and she jumped slightly. Oliver's hand on her arm steadied her so she didn't lose balance and fall over.

"Where did you come from?" she asked. How did she miss a man as gargantuan as Diggle approaching her?

Diggle ignored her and focused on Oliver, "I thought it was just us."

"It was," Oliver insisted. "Felicity thinks she can help."

Diggle turned to Felicity, "The flight manifest…"

"Has already been altered to include my name," Felicity smiled. She had anticipated every roadblock they would throw in her way to go with them and she had an answer for everything.

Both men sighed heavily and shared a glance.

"Ok but you stick with us at all times and you follow our orders without question," Oliver caved quickly surprising Felicity.

"Ok except if you tell me to jump off a bridge. There will be questions then," Felicity agreed.

Oliver and Diggle chuckled.

"You're remarkable Felicity," he said a smile tugging at his lips.

Before she could respond a man called for the Queen party to board their plane. Oliver's hand slipped over the hand she had on her suitcase and he took it from her.

"Our bags are on the plane already," he said by way of explanation for stealing her bag. She was perfectly capable of walking with her own bag.

She followed behind Oliver, Diggle walking in step next to her, towards the other side of the building where there were some large double doors that opened up to the runway. Their plane was right there waiting for them. Oliver handed her suitcase off to someone at the side and they took it to the cargo hold of the plane.

"I've never traveled on a private jet before. This should be fun!"

* * *

The inside of the jet was spacious. On each side of the plane was one large seat. Some seats faced the front, some seats faced the back so that you could sit facing each other. There was a door after the fourth row of seats that lead to the rest of the plane. The front of the plane had the door to the cockpit, the bathroom and an area to prepare meals and food.

Oliver and Diggle sat facing each other on one side and Felicity took a seat on the other side of the plane. Oliver pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Hello, Mom. I'm on the jet. I'm going to Russia for a few days. I'll see you when I get back."

Her eyes snapped to Diggle. "Does he always inform her so late?"

"Pretty much," Diggle confirmed for her.

Felicity relaxed back in the chair and listened as the Captain informed them about the trip and the estimated flight time. It was going to be a very long flight but Felicity had come prepared. As soon as they were in the air she pulled out two manila file folders and handed a folder each to Oliver and Diggle.

"What's this?" Diggle asked curiously.

"This is the mission Lyla was assigned along with her progress updates she submitted to ARGUS every week." She watched pleased as both of them stared at her stunned. She lifted her head in the air proudly. She told them she was there to help. She certainly intended to pull her weight.

"How did you get this?" Oliver asked shaking the file in his hand slightly.

"I hacked ARGUS," she admitted happily. It had been the most fun she had had in years. It felt great to actually have a challenge. Of course she had to figure out that it was ARGUS and not R Gus but after she got that bit sorted out by doing some research on the dark web it was like she was dancing with an old friend she hadn't seen in years.

"Felicity!" Oliver said through gritted teeth. His posture stiffened and he didn't look pleased at all.

"What?" she shrugged innocently. "I told you I break the FBI deal every day. It took me all night but I got in. They aren't as secure as they think are," a yawn broke her boast. "Once I was in I was able to pull up all the information we required. I think they even have a satellite that could be useful from time to time."

Another yawn punctuated her sentence. "Sorry, I went straight home from the base. I had just enough time to pack and get here."

Oliver's eyes softened. "Take a nap while we read this then."

"I would love to," Felicity said stretching out in her seat. She pressed the button to recline and then adjusted her position until she found one comfortable enough to sleep in. Usually that position was her leaning her head against the frame of the plane while she was stuck upright in her seat but this was an airplane seat that reclined right back. It was such a pleasant alternative to what she was accustomed to.

"Felicity," Oliver's voice said as she was trying to immerse herself in her dream world. A world she was sure she would see him in.

"Hmm," she mumbled. "Trying to sleep."

"There's a bed in the back," he said calmly.

"Did you say bed or did I imagine you saying that?" she asked popping one eye open to look at him.

"Through that door is a bedroom," he chucked his thumb in the direction of the door at the back of the plane. "You can sleep on a bed. Diggle and I need to read these files and get up to speed with what you know. Go ahead and get some rest. You've never been to Russia before so I need you to be alert when we get there."

Felicity nodded and stood. She was halfway to the door when Diggle called out to her.

"Felicity if we said no, when were you planning on giving us these files?"

She turned to look at him, "I thought you would have held out longer and I planned on using the information as a carrot to come on board."

Diggle chuckled and then looked at her sincerely, "Thank you."

"Your welcome. We'll get your ex-wife back although considering the lengths you're willing to go to get her back, ex probably isn't the right word."

Diggle didn't respond to her comment and she continued on her short walk to the bedroom. She opened the door and collapsed on the bed. Damn the Queens. The bed on their private jet was more comfortable than the bed in her apartment! Soon she was watching her naked Oliver on the salmon ladder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Originally Russia was a part of this chapter but it was getting into the 10k word territory so I made Russia its own chapter. Anyone want to take a guess at what Lyla's doing in Russia?


	6. Isabel Rochev

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. This is part 1 of the team in Russia. Enjoy!

A loud bang woke Felicity up. It took her a moment to remember she was on board the Queen's private jet and not home in her apartment. She realised the loud bang she heard was the plane landing and that they were decelerating down the runway. Either the conditions outside were bad or their pilot wasn't very good at landings. Every time she travelled between Vegas and Boston she always rated the pilot's landing. She's had pilots she swore were trying to test the stress failure point on the landing gear, like the landing she just had and she's had pilots she thought aced their landing test. Her best ever landing was with a former air force pilot in charge. He put that plane down like it was a feather. She actually had to question if they were on the ground because she hadn't felt a thing. She would withhold her grading of this pilot until she could see the conditions outside.

Speaking of outside, she couldn't have slept the entire way to Russia did she? Maybe they had to land to refuel but she remembered that the jet was a transcontinental jet. She had researched the technical specifications of the jet before stepping on board. Moscow was just within the jet's maximum range. However if the weather was bad and they had to drop to a lower altitude or they encountered a strong headwind, they might have had to stop earlier to refuel to stay within safe parameters.

She sat up and the top half of the blanket that was covering her dropped into her lap. She didn't remember pulling a blanket around her when she collapsed on top of the bed. Oliver or Diggle must have covered her while she slept. She stretched and tried to get her brain jump started. She needed to focus on the mission. According to the ARGUS file, Lyla had been assigned to infiltrate the operations of a Russian business man, Konstantin Kovar. He was suspected of supporting a terrorist group that was plotting attacks in the US. Lyla was to determine who he was liaising with in the group and how he was funnelling the funds to the terrorist group. ARGUS was hoping that the money trail would reveal more information about the group.

Kovar was filthy rich but Felicity couldn't determine exactly how he came into his money. He worked at an import/export business one day and the next he owned it, supposedly buying the owner out according to the paperwork on file. From there he expanded quickly and he currently owned several businesses throughout Russia, the most recent of which was a casino located in Moscow.

Lyla was able to gain employment at said casino as a dealer. She had been making progress up to three days ago or maybe it was four days now. Her partner on the mission suspected Kovar discovered she was a mole and was holding her captive in the basement of the casino. The good news was that no body had turned up matching Lyla's description yet. He probably wanted to interrogate her to find out what she knew and who had sent her.

There was a knock at the door and Oliver entered, "We're here." He already had his black pea coat on and looked ready to step off the plane.

"Russia?" she double checked.

"Yes," he replied.

"I slept all the way here?" she asked horrified. She hadn't slept that long since the hackathons she used to do in college.

"Yes," he replied again. "You curled right up when I covered you with the blanket."

"Frack, I didn't mean to hog the bed," she said.

"It's ok. Digg and I spent most of the flight reading the file and devising a plan to retrieve Lyla from the casino," Oliver revealed.

"What do you need me to do?" Felicity asked.

"Nothing," He signalled to the corner of her mouth. "I'll give you a few moments to get cleaned up while we taxi to the terminal. There's a bathroom through that door."

Felicity's hand flew up to her mouth and she was horrified to find drool. She looked back at the pillow to find she had drooled all over the Queen's expensive pillow. It was all naked Oliver's fault. When Oliver made a choking sound at the door she realised she had said that out loud. She grabbed the blanket and fled to the bathroom.

The mirror in the bathroom was most definitely not her friend. Her hair was a bird's nest, there was a long thick white line of drool running from the corner of her mouth down her face, and her makeup was all smudged. In other words she looked terrible! She turned on the tap and splashed water on her face and scrubbed it clean. There was a hairbrush in the bathroom and she assumed they wouldn't mind if she used it to brush her hair. Once that was under control she straightened out her blouse and skirt. It was a good thing she had a coat to wear that would cover all of the wrinkles in her blouse.

Feeling refreshed and a little more presentable she left the bathroom and headed back towards the main cabin where her boys were. The plane had come to a halt and Felicity looked out a window to see the main building 50 feet away.

"So what's the plan and why do I have nothing to do?" she asked fiercely. Oliver and Diggle were hovering by the seats they had occupied before she went to sleep. Both of them looked refreshed and alert. No one would guess that they were stepping off a plane after a long flight.

"We'll explain at the apartment," Oliver said picking up the bag with her laptop.

Felicity grabbed her purse before he could reach for it,"You have an apartment here?"

"My dad used to make frequent trips here when we were younger. He bought the apartment and QC management uses it when we visit the subsidiary here," he said heading towards the door.

"Oh," she said picking up her coat and following behind him.

They were stopped from exiting by the pilot's voice on the intercom announcing that Russian officials would be coming to the plane to clear them. They needed to wait on board until the officials arrived. Felicity dropped into the seat she had previously occupied and pulled her phone out of her purse. She turned it on and found three missed calls from her mother, Mrs. Queen and Frank.

She wasn't in violation of her deal with the FBI. She had informed them that she would be out of the country for a week on vacation. That was all her deal required. She didn't need to wait for permission to leave. Frank was probably calling to find out where she was going, with whom she was going, where she was staying and what she was doing. He thought that if he knew every little detail about her life then she couldn't be in violation of her deal. How wrong he was! She refused to incur any roaming fees by calling Frank back. She would send him an e-mail later to enquire what he wanted. He was free to check her apartment and office while she wasn't there.

She moved onto the missed call from Mrs Queen who had also sent her a message. She opened the message to see what the Queen Matriarch wanted and she found a warning.

_Be careful of Isabel. She's worth $700 million._

Isabel who was Isabel? Was Moira referring to the woman that Robert nearly left her for? She fired off a quick text to Mrs. Queen letting her know that they had landed and she would be on the lookout for Isabel.

Felicity stared at the missed call from her mother. Admittedly, leaving a quick note that said she was going out to town for a little while for a case was not the ideal way to tell her she wouldn't be home but it was much better than not telling her at all. There was no way she was having that face to face conversation with her mother. There would be all sorts of demands to know where she was going and with whom. The minute she said the name Oliver Queen all hell would break lose and somehow her mother would want to know when the grandchildren were coming. She wished she could send her mother a quick text but that wouldn't work. She would have to call her and run up her phone bill with roaming charges.

She glanced out of the window and not seeing any officials, she decided to make the call. It was after 8:00pm in Starling so her mother could be home or she could be busy out. Felicity was hoping for the latter. When the call went through to voicemail Felicity fist pumped. She left a quick message stating that the case was going well, she was safe and she would call her again later.

Both Oliver and Diggle gave her strange looks. Was it that obvious that she hadn't told her mother the whole truth?

"No comments! Oliver, you didn't even tell your mother you were leaving until just before takeoff."

Soon the cabin door was opened and Russian officials entered. They were each given immigration and customs forms to fill out. Felicity didn't know the address of the apartment so Oliver had to write it in on both hers and Diggle's form. The officials reviewed the information, scanned their passports and then stamped them. Oliver thanked them for their service and they were taken to the main arrival area for passengers. They made their way out from there.

"Oliver," a female voice said as soon as they exited the arrival area.

Oliver stiffened next to her which was not the usual reaction he had to women. Felicity turned to find a brunette with long legs. She wore a thick fur coat over a black knee length dress with black heels.

"Isabel," he said tersely.

Isabel! This was the Isabel woman that Moira had warned her about. The woman that Robert Queen had been willing to give up his family for. From Oliver's reaction she wondered if he had slept with her as well.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked plastering on that fake smile.

"Your father informed me of your arrival. He asked me to keep an eye on you," she said in a bored tone. She watched Oliver like he was no better than the dirt under her Louis Vuittons.

"Isabel there is no need to keep an eye on me. I know my way around quite well. I did spend an entire summer here with my father," he reminded her.

She gave a non-committal sound before her eyes landed on Felicity. "Still chasing after the short skirts I see." The disdain in her voice was clear. She did not like Oliver at all.

Oliver turned to look at Felicity, his eyes dropping down momentarily to her skirt before he turned back to Isabel, "It's not that short."

That was the second comment about the length of her skirt in 24 hours. Seriously, her skirts were not that short!

"The car is waiting for us." Isabel walked off, the unspoken command of follow her hung in the air.

Diggle and Oliver shared a look and she knew this was not a part of the plan. She felt Oliver's hot breath on her ear as he leaned closer to her, "Remember how I said we didn't need you earlier," she nodded, "Well I was wrong. We need you to keep Isabel occupied while Digg and I meet up with Lyla's partner."

She turned her head to look at him, his face was an inch away from hers and her eyes flicked down to his lips for a second before she looked back up to his beautiful eyes, "Why should I?" she sulked.

"Because we do not want to clue Isabel in on why we're really in Russia," Oliver said his eyes flicking down to her lips before travelling back up. "If she knows then my father will know and we do not want my father involved."

Felicity's tongue automatically darted out to wet her lips, the action causing Oliver's gaze to shift to her lips again. "Why does he think we're in Russia?" she asked curiously.

Oliver's gaze moved back to her eyes and he stared at her. It was really easy to get lost in his eyes. They were the window to his soul and she saw the real him when she looked into them.

"Oliver!" Isabel's annoying voice rang out interrupting them.

Oliver looked away, "We should probably get going before Isabel has a stroke. Something tells me my father won't take her death well." His hand dropped to the small of Felicity's back and he guided her out of the airport with an amused Diggle on their heels.

There was a town car waiting right by the official exit. The security for the airport wasn't allowing any other car to wait but their own. She was glad it was close because Russia was a lot colder than she thought. When she stepped out of the plane she regretted not wearing pants. She needed a thicker coat too because she swore the wind was penetrating straight through the fabric into her bones.

"Get in," Isabel ordered, she was standing next to the driver who had opened the backseat door for them.

Oliver allowed Felicity to enter first, he followed in after her and then Isabel sat at the end. Diggle was forced to sit in front with the driver.

"Where to?" Isabel asked.

"I was hoping to stop by the bar near QC," Oliver answered.

"Of course, it's nearly seven am in the morning but that's never stopped you from drinking," Isabel said sardonically. She spoke in Russian towards the driver and he nodded. She turned back to Oliver, "Your father said you were her to visit a friend. At first I thought maybe it was Tatiana, or Svetlana, even Oksana or Natasha but then she appeared." Isabel nodded her head towards Felicity.

Felicity was grateful that Oliver decided to sit in the middle and separate her from Isabel because she was sure if she had to sit next to that woman a cat fight would break out in the car.

Oliver sighed, "She is my personal assistant."

Felicity's fist clenched, her eyes shooting daggers at Oliver. She did not get her masters in cyber security to become someone's assistant. Not that anything was wrong with such jobs, they just weren't for her.

"I'm sure she attends to all your needs," Isabel drawled before turning to look out the window.

Felicity bristled at the implication, "I'm a working professional."

Isabel ignored her but Oliver slid his hand into hers and squeezed it.

"Behave please," he whispered in her ear. "We don't need her causing any trouble for us."

Felicity pulled her hand from his, crossed her hands over her chest angrily and turned her body to look out the window. She was not talking to him until he came up with a better story.

* * *

The car eventually pulled to a stop in front of a building. Felicity had no idea where they were but Oliver was following Isabel out of the car. When he exited he turned around and held out a hand for her. She scooted across the seat, ignored his hand, and exited the car by herself. She pulled her coat tighter around her to fend off the cold.

Oliver pursed his lips disappointed and then headed inside, Isabel following behind him. Diggle fell into step next to her.

"Felicity, we all have our parts to play. It could be worse, you could be the black driver," Diggle quipped.

She looked up at him, "I spent years studying at MIT and it wasn't the secretarial arts I studied. Even when I couldn't go into my field of study, I found something else that fulfilled me. Fetching someone their coffee does not fulfil me, neither does fending off blows from that banshee."

Diggle's hand fell on her shoulder, "It's just for a day. As soon as we get Lyla, we're out of here and you will never have to see Isabel again."

"Is that a promise? Because I hope it's a promise. That woman is just so mean," Felicity whined. "I'm trying so hard to be the better person here."

Diggle chuckled and they both headed inside.

The bar was like any other bar she had been to. There was nothing remarkable about it other than the fact that it was in Russia and it was warm. At that hour of the morning it was mostly deserted, just one or two drunk people asleep on the table. Truthfully, she was surprised it was even open. Oliver and Isabel were already seated at a table in the back. He signalled to the bartender and then spoke in Russian to him.

Felicity's feet came to an abrupt halt. Oliver spoke Russian! And he sounded so hot speaking it.

"Felicity?" Diggle questioned and she shook her head to get out of the little haze she had entered.

"I'm fine," she assured him.

The table had four chairs around it, two on each side. Oliver and Isabel were sitting opposite each other leaving her with the choice to either sit next to Isabel or sit next to Oliver but Diggle made the decision for her by sitting next to Isabel.

"I thought the bodyguard was supposed to stand in the background," Isabel commented her tone laced with venom.

"I have a perfect view of any threats around Oliver. I can see behind me in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar and to the casual observer I'm just another normal person in the bar. Hovering behind Oliver will only attract undo attention, Ms. Rochev." Diggle stated to her.

It was only when Diggle revealed Isabel's last name that it occurred to Felicity then that they hadn't been formally introduced. She didn't really mind considering how hostile Isabel had been acting. Perhaps it was a good thing the woman didn't know her name.

The bartender arrived with four shot glasses filled with a clear liquid.

"Vodka," Oliver said to her. He picked up a glass. "Prochnost!" he said and then downed the shot.

Diggle followed suit and Felicity picked up her glass and downed the liquid. It burned the back of her throat, making her cough violently. Oliver's hand started to rub her back in a soothing gesture.

"I'd forgotten how strong the vodka is over here," Oliver commented wistfully.

Isabel looked unimpressed. Her shot was still sitting in front of her.

"Isabel, I'm sure you have better things to do than keep me and my friends company," Oliver said to her when he was satisfied that Felicity had recovered.

"Of course I have better things to do," she snapped. "I have the entire subsidiary here to run but when the CEO of the corporation you work for asks you to do something you do it. So if that means I have to spend my entire day watching you drink then I have to watch you drink."

"We won't be drinking the entire day," he said in his defence.

"What or should I say who will you be doing?" she asked for clarification.

"First, I intend to get some sleep at the apartment. Are you going to watch me sleep too?" he asked her pointedly.

Isabel's face contorted in disgust and that was enough of an answer.

"I heard a new casino opened. I was thinking of checking it out," Oliver said with that fake smile of his.

"You've picked up a new vice then," she replied dryly. "Although it does make sense. Lots of women and alcohol all in one place while you wastefully spend your money. Not much different to the clubs you usually go to."

Felicity noticed Oliver's eye track someone across the bar and he excused himself to use the bathroom, Diggle going with him as his bodyguard. That left her alone with Isabel. The only reason she didn't complain was because she knew they were meeting with Lyla's partner and that was more important than her discomfort with Isabel.

"You don't need to hold his dick for him to pee?" Isabel said rudely.

Felicity laughed, that was it. She was totally done with Isabel and her power trip. "I realize, considering your affair with Robert Queen, you do not understand the true meaning of professional relationships but I do. I am not sleeping with Oliver or attending to any of the tasks you allude to. Just because you had to bed a Queen to get where you are, doesn't mean I had to."

Isabel's mouth opened and closed like a fish. The reference to her affair with Robert Queen had shut her right up. She picked up the shot glass in front of her, downed it and then ordered another one."Whatever you think you know, you don't," she sneered at her.

"And whatever you think you know about me, you don't," Felicity replied sweetly back to her.

They fell into silence until Oliver returned to the table. He faked a yawn and then went over to the bartender. She saw money pass on the counter and then he was signalling to her that it was time to leave. Even though the sun was higher in the sky she found it was still very cold and she sprinted for the car where the driver was waiting with the heat on.

Oliver gave the driver an instruction and Isabel said something in Russian to him but he ignored her. The next time they stopped, they were outside what looked like a big department store. The employees were opening the entrance for the day.

"I'll be back in a minute. I just need to pick something up," he said roughly pushing Isabel to get out of the car.

A few minutes later he returned with a large thick coat that he wrapped around Felicity. Usually she hated gifts but this coat was so warm. His eyes begged for forgiveness.

"Thank you," she said. All was forgiven.

He smiled back at her.

* * *

The apartment was on the top floor of a three story building. It was tastefully decorated but it didn't strike her as Moira's style. Perhaps it was Isabel's. This _**was**_ Robert Queen's apartment and if he entertained his mistress there it would make sense for her to have an impact on the decorating.

Isabel did a walk through the apartment with Oliver to ensure everything was in order. The crew of the plane had brought their luggage straight there and it was lined up against one wall. After Oliver assured his father, via a quick phone call, that he was in fact going to stay in the apartment until that night, Isabel finally left them alone with an agreement to pick them up at 9:00pm to go to the casino.

"There are only two bedrooms. Diggle and I can share," Oliver said to her.

"I slept already. I'll sleep after we get Lyla back tonight. You guys rest. When you're ready we'll discuss the plan."

Oliver and Diggle retired to separate rooms and Felicity curled up on the couch with her new coat. She pulled out her laptop and sent a quick e-mail to Frank. She then started familiarizing herself with a map of Moscow. She learned several routes to go between the apartment, the casino and the airport. She also noted where the major medical facilities were located.

Her preparations for their mission were interrupted when her phone beeped with an alert. It was for a new newspaper article that mentioned Oliver. She read the headline.

_Oliver Queen wanted for role in hit and run tragedy._

What! Felicity opened the article by Susan Williams.

_Girlfriend of Oliver Queen, Hannah Smith gave a statement to police that Oliver Queen was driving her black BMW when he ran a stop light and hit a man that was using the crosswalk. She alleges that they were having sex while he drove back to her apartment and neither of them saw the red light or the man crossing the road. She stated that she asked him to stop the car so that they could provide assistance to the man but he refused saying that his father would take care of it._

White hot anger flooded Felicity. How dare that bitch throw him under the bus for something he didn't do! The article further infuriated her when she read that an inside source of Ms. Williams claimed that Oliver had fled to Russia where extradition was difficult.

She needed to talk to Mrs. Queen but she couldn't use her phone. She was sure Frank was keeping a close eye on it. She pulled out the burner phone that Oliver brought with them and called Mrs. Queen.

"Hello?" she answered uncertain who was calling her.

"Mrs. Queen its Felicity. I saw that newspaper headline and its garbage. Oliver was with me in the base when Hannah called. She was in a state because she had hit that man and didn't know what to do. She wanted Oliver to take care of it for her and he refused. He told her to go to the police station to report it but she refused," Felicity rushed out.

"I figured as much," Mrs. Queen replied calmly. "Do you have footage of Oliver arriving at Verdant that night? Tommy's been pretty useless so far."

"Not yet but I can pull it up. I'll send it to you shortly. I'll also see if I can pull some footage that shows Hannah was the one driving her car alone," Felicity offered. Her fingertips were already flying over the keyboard as she logged into Verdant's security system remotely.

"Excellent, and Felicity," Moira added.

"Yes?" she answered innocently.

"I told you to call me Moira." The call then ended abruptly.

Felicity stared at the phone for a few seconds before she focused on the task at hand, clearing Oliver. The Verdant footage was easy to get but the footage of Hannah was a bit more difficult. Starling City really needed to organise their CCTV city coverage better. She was able to secure footage that showed Hannah had left Jade Dragon by herself and Oliver left by himself, both heading in opposite directions. She sent the files to Moira. Now it was up to the Queen Matriarch to finish the job. Whatever Moira intended to do, Hannah Smith was toast.

An hour later Diggle emerged from the bedroom.

"You still have plenty of time to sleep," she said to him.

He stopped and stared at her, "Felicity, Lyla is being held hostage in a casino 20 miles away. There's no way I'm getting any sleep until we get her out. If it was up to me we would have gone there straight from the airport but her partner insisted that was a sure fire way to get her killed and that is the only reason I am sitting in this apartment right now waiting."

Felicity nodded and slid her laptop over to him, "This is a map of Moscow. You might feel better if you got a better sense of your bearings."

"Thank you Felicity," he said before he started studying the map.

Oliver eventually joined them, walking out of the bedroom in just a pair of sweatpants that were hung low on his hips. Was he trying to kill her? Her imagination was going to have a field day with those pants.

"Anything happen while I was asleep?" he asked.

His hair was sticking up in odd directions and her hands itched to straighten it. She clasped her hands together tightly in her lap and chewed on her bottom lip. He stared at her.

"We might have a slight problem back home," she rushed out.

"Which problem are you referring to?" he asked taking a seat on other end of her sofa. "Because I've heard of several from Tommy and Thea about the security combination to get into the base."

"Captain Lance followed up on the anonymous tip about the hit and run accident," she started to explain.

"And he complains about the work the vigilante does but it takes him days to follow up on a lead," Oliver commented.

"He found Hannah and she's claiming that you were driving the car and well you know how Captain Lance feels about you so it wasn't that hard to convince him. It's all over Starling City News but don't worry. Your mother and I have a plan to clear your name. We got your back," she reassured him standing up. For some reason sitting on the same sofa as him was making her nervous. She could clearly see herself crawling into his lap and doing things she shouldn't be doing with him. "Are there any snacks in this apartment? I feel like snacks. Or better yet is there a Big Belly Burger in Moscow?"

Oliver laughed, "I know you got my back. I was never worried. I told my father we were handling it. There isn't a Big Belly Burger but there is a nice restaurant down the street that serves traditional Russian food. I'll go and get some food for us."

* * *

Originally the plan was for Oliver and Diggle to go to the club, infiltrate the basement and get Lyla out but with the addition of Isabel the plan had to be changed. Oliver, Felicity and Isabel would arrive at the club together. Diggle would go to the club an hour ahead of them and do some reconnaissance. Isabel would be told he was checking the security at the club to determine if it was safe for Oliver to go. In reality, Diggle going early was to disconnect him from their party since he would be the one physically retrieving Lyla. If he was identified on the security cameras, he wouldn't be connected to the Queen party. Of course Felicity offered to infiltrate their IT system but neither man wanted to go that route. They wanted to do a quick grab and run.

The other issue was Oliver had only packed comm units for himself, Diggle and Lyla's partner. That meant Felicity would be without a comm. She would have to rely entirely on Oliver for intel and somehow manage not to clue Isabel in on what was really happening.

Felicity knew they were going to be visiting the casino so she packed a long red dress with a slit at the back for the mission. She paired the dress with silver chandelier earrings, silver heels and a silver clutch. She clipped most of her hair to one side and left it curly. Oliver seemed very pleased with her outfit. Isabel arrived on time and turned up her nose at the outfit. Felicity ignored her because she did the exact same thing to Oliver and Felicity thought Oliver looked down right gorgeous in his black suit.

The drive to the casino wasn't as long as she thought it would be. She stepped out of the car and walked to the front door of the casino. The coat Oliver had brought wrapped around her keeping her warm in the cold Russian air. She checked the coat at the door and stepped into the room on Oliver's arm. It seemed like the minute she walked in all attention was on them. Several women were watching her with envy and the wait staff was offering to get them whatever they wanted. It felt good to be with the most powerful man in the room. It was an intoxicating feeling but she knew she could not get accustomed to it. Oliver was not hers.

"Let's go to the black jack table," Felicity suggested excitedly.

"That would require some skill to play, why don't you stick to the slot machines," Isabel advised with a scowl. She then broke off to observe the roulette table.

Did that women ever smile? Did she know how to smile? Felicity wanted to take the bottle of wine off of a passing waiter's tray and break it over the woman's head but that would be a waste of a perfectly good bottle of wine. Plus she was supposed to keep the Isabel occupied without creating a scene.

Oliver tried to steer her away from the black jack table but she fought his pull. A passing man in a suit noticed her distress and politely asked her something in Russian.

"What?" she asked.

"We're fine," Oliver said tersely his hand falling to the small of her back as he changed directions and moved towards the black jack tables with her.

"What did he ask?" she asked him curiously.

"He wanted to escort you to the black jack table," Oliver said bitterly.

"Oh, how nice of him," Felicity said turning back to wink at the man.

He raised his glass at her in reply.

"Felicity you are not here to flirt," an angry Oliver said.

"I know but we are here to play a part. You know very well I grew up in Las Vegas. It was in that file that you gave me, which by the way did you get that from Lyla?" she asked going off topic.

"Felicity, focus! You need to keep your head in the game," he said sternly.

"My point was I know how to act in a casino now you go do your job and accidentally bounce into that security guard over there and get his pass," Felicity said motioning to a guard that was near the bar.

She looked at the various tables and chose a seat at one that was now opening. Oliver stood silently behind her and surveyed the room. Isabel seemed to change her mind and joined them at the table. Felicity wished she had Superman's laser vision because she would have burned a hole in her for taking the seat right next to her.

"Oliver," Felicity said sweetly, "Can I get a glass of red wine please?" She was staring off towards the bar, the bar where the security guy she pointed to earlier was still located.

"Yes," he then turned to Isabel. "Anything for you Isabel?" he asked.

Felicity rolled her eyes. He could have ignored the party crasher.

"I thought the secretary was supposed to be getting the drinks?" Isabel commented in a scathing tone.

"Oh we have an arrangement. I don't do beverages," Felicity explained in sickly sweet tone while she pushed Oliver away to get her drink. Isabel would have to fend for herself.

Felicity turned to the dealer and made the lowest bet, Isabel followed suit. She won three hands in a row but knew she had to lose some in order to stay under the radar. That wouldn't be a problem because on some hands if she went over 21 purposely it would also cause Isabel to lose. She didn't mind the small sacrifices to ensure the brunette didn't win for the night.

A large warm hand soon fell on her lower back. "You're good at this game," he whispered in her ear as he placed a wine glass down to her. His hand moved from her lower back across her hip bone to the clutch she had walked with. She knew he was putting the security badge in there.

"Oh it's not a game when I play," she told him. "Here play for me, I'm going to the little girl's room. And don't lose my chips," she threatened lightly.

She made her way to the washroom. Diggle had told Oliver earlier that there was a blind spot in the camera feed outside the washroom which was where Felicity was going to hand over the security card to him. Felicity got the card out of her purse and held it lightly in her left hand as instructed. Diggle was already slowly making his way out of the men's room. He timed his walk to pass her in the blind spot and relieved her of the card as they passed. She spent two minutes in the bathroom and then returned to the table.

Half her chips were gone and Isabel had a nice little pile in front of her! "Oliver," she growled.

He gave her an innocent shrug.

"Move," she commanded. "Take your terrible luck over to the craps table or something. I need to win my money back."

Oliver just took another seat around the same table and continued to lose money at the table. As was part of the plan the lights in the casino suddenly went out. Lyla's partner cut the power for six blocks at a power relay station. The backup generator would kick in in 30 seconds and that was the window Diggle had to get into the basement without being noticed.

Felicity really didn't like being kept in the dark, pun intended. She was in a strange place with many armed men around and she had no clue what was going on. She could hear people scampering about as the security was busy trying to reassure people and make sure no chips or money was stolen. Two waiters must have bounced into each other because there was also the sound of falling glasses and some Russian words that Felicity strongly suspected were curse words.

She had no idea if Diggle got in unscathed and Oliver hadn't given a thing away only asking the dealer what happened to the lights he couldn't see his cards. Despite complaining about not seeing his cards he still told the dealer to hit him. He pulled off spoiled billionaire very well. No one would think for a moment he had anything to do with the outage.

The power returned and the staff started checking on all the tables. After they played the next hand, in which she recouped some of her lost funds, Felicity did a discreet look around and found Diggle seated by a slot machine alone. Something had gone wrong but she didn't know what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter I intend to reveal who Lyla's partner is. Is there anyone readers would like to see as her partner?
> 
> Oh and by they way, would anyone be opposed if I took next week off?


	7. Lyla Michaels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

They returned to the apartment in silence. Well Oliver was silent and Isabel was glaring daggers at Felicity as she made it a point to count how much money she had won at the Blackjack table. Isabel had lost quite a fair amount so that added to Felicity's happiness. Oliver sat stiff as a board between them in the car. She knew he wanted her to stop antagonising the Russian woman but Felicity was just having too much fun to stop. It wasn't often that Felicity got to gloat.

She had yet to find out what happened with Lyla but she did notice when Diggle left the casino. He played on the slot machine for about ten minutes before he left. He was pulling that handle so violently she thought for sure it was going to come off in his hand. Their car came to a halt in front of the apartment building and Felicity happily exited the car.

She managed to catch Oliver's curt goodbye to Isabel before he joined her on the sidewalk.

"What time tomorrow Oliver?" Isabel drawled.

"I really don't need the supervision Isabel," Oliver said exasperated. "It's not like I'm going to create an international incident."

She arched her eyebrow, "Are you forgetting about that time..."

"That was not my fault!" Oliver snapped."Listen Isabel, I'm not spending the day with you anywhere near me tomorrow. Go to work," he said.

His hand dropped to the small of Felicity's back and he guided her into the warmth of the building. He nodded at the security downstairs and they went to the elevator. Oliver pressed the button.

"So you caused an international incident?" Felicity questioned looking up at him innocently. The elevator arrived and they both stepped into it.

"It wasn't my fault. Tommy and I were in the East. We crossed the border between two countries and the immigration officer forgot to stamp my passport when I entered. When I tried to leave, I got pulled aside because I didn't have the entry stamp. They pulled me into a back room to interrogate me. Tommy called my mom and she called the State Department. The US ambassador arrived and after some negotiations I was eventually allowed to cross back over. No big deal," Oliver said leaning against the back of the elevator and crossing his arms over his chest.

"That isn't an international incident. It's not like you started the next world war!" Felicity agreed with him.

"The way Isabel behaves you would think I had done that," he quipped.

The door opened and they stepped out onto their floor. Oliver walked to the apartment and opened the door Digg had left unlocked for them. They found Digg seated on the sofa opposite a slim man with brown hair and an eye patch over one eye. It looked like the same man from the bar. She hadn't seen his face, only his side profile but she was going to hazard a guess that this was Lyla's partner. Oliver closed the door behind them and asked for a situation report.

"We're reviewing our options," the stranger said.

Felicity looked between Oliver and Digg and when neither of them said a word she spoke up.

"Hi, I'm Felicity," she said holding out her hand to the man.

He smiled at her, "I know, I happened to stumble upon Lyla when she was pulling your file for John. I'm Lyla's partner, Floyd Lawton, but I'm better known as Deadshot."

Felicity nodded her she was obviously the only one that did not know what happened and they weren't being very chatty at the moment she demanded to know what had occurred at the casino.

Digg dropped his head into his hands, "She wasn't there. There were other people there but I couldn't help them. It would have put the entire mission in jeopardy."

She could tell he was beating himself up for not being able to do something about it. She sat down beside him and squeezed his hand. "Hey when we get Lyla back she might have some information that will take down Kovar."

Digg looked up from his hands and he squeezed her hand back in thanks for the reassurance.

"If Lyla wasn't there, where is she?" Oliver asked looking at Floyd.

"Kovar has several businesses," Floyd started.

"Best guess," Oliver interrupted the man.

"His mansion outside the city would probably be the next logical place to hold Lyla captive. Even if she isn't there we might still be able to get a beat on her location by talking to Taiana Venediktov," Floyd suggested thoughtfully.

"Who's Taiana Ven something?" Felicity asked curiously.

"Venediktov, currently she's a maid in his house but she used to bea diver on his yacht. She and her brother Vlad, up until his death three months ago, would accompany Kovar as he dove around the is a bit of an adrenaline junky and he likes to push 's done the Diver's Cemetery in Egypt twice. They were diving off of Coco's Island when Kovar surfaced by himself. He boarded the yacht and gave instructions to the Captain to leave. Taiana was ready to dive into the water to find her brother but he had his men hold her back. When they returned he reassigned her to his mansion."

"How do you know all this? None of this was in Lyla's reports," Felicity pointed out with narrowed eyes.

Floyd chuckled, "We don't always report everything, particularly when it comes to innocents. Amanda Waller has a unique talent that turns innocent people into monsters. She'll force anyone she views as having a useful skill into ARGUS. If we had reported the information about Taiana she would have instructed us to use Taiana and then either toss her aside or make her an ARGUS agent. Lyla isn't like that."

"No she isn't," Diggle agreed with a wry smile. "She vehemently objected when I thought about joining ARGUS."

"What makes you think Taiana would even help us?" Oliver asked.

"Lyla met her and her mother at the casino. When Kovar has his private business parties in the back room, he brings his staff from his mansion to serve. He never uses the casino staff. Lyla befriended her at the club and was trying to make Taiana an informant. She told Lyla that Kovar had Vlad's dive tank and she believed the Kovar killed Vlad underwater and took his tank. His dive computer showed some sudden ascension in the water before levelling off was devastated by the loss and she hoped Lyla could help her and her mother get away from Kovar."

"Could Taiana have betrayed her?" Oliver asked.

"Maybe but I don't think it was her. She had been working on Taiana for weeks. She only disappeared a few days ago. Someone else must have tipped Kovar off," Floyd concluded.

"Ok so we are going to break into the mansion to find Lyla and if we don't find her, then we find Taiana?" Felicity asked for clarification.

"We don't need to break into the mansion to talk Taiana. Her mother goes to the market once a week for fresh ingredients for the kitchen. Taiana goes with her to assist her since arthritis has started affecting her mother's mobility. Kovar also sends at least two guards to accompany them in the market. If we can distract the guards, one of us could probably get close enough to talk with Taiana," Floyd stated.

"When is market day?" Diggle asked.

"Two days from now," Floyd answered.

Diggle sent the crystal vase that was on the end table next to the sofa into the wall sending shards scattering across the ground.

"I cannot wait another day!" Diggle said frustrated. "I have to do something to get her back now!"

"We can plan Diggle. We can plan how to get her out of every building Kovar owns starting with the mansion. That way when we get the confirmation of her location we can move right away. No more waiting," Oliver said reasonably. "You know if we move too early and tip him off, Lyla could be lost to us forever."

"I know Oliver I just can't stand the thought that she's being held against her will in an unknown location with people doing things to her," Diggle said clenching his fists.

"Lyla is a survivor," Floyd said to him. "I don't think Kovar has any idea how tough Lyla is."

Felicity walked across to the table and brought her laptop back to the couch, "How many buildings are we talking about?"

"In Moscow, 72," Floyd responded.

Felicity's jaw dropped open.

"But don't worry, Lyla and I had an incursion plan for 65 of the buildings. We can easily use those," he offered.

"What about the other seven?" Oliver asked.

"They were more heavily protected and impossible for two people to infiltrate," Floyd explained.

"We focus on those seven then. There are three of us," Oliver said.

"Four," Felicity corrected. If they thought they were doing this without her, they needed to think again.

* * *

Felicity was waiting in the same bar while Oliver, Diggle and Floyd were meeting with an arms dealer to purchase weapons to infiltrate the Mansion or any of the other buildings that Kovar owned. They were in the back somewhere and Felicity refused to sit at a table by herself so she hopped up on a bar stool by the bar and ordered a glass of red wine from the bartender who actually spoke English. She was halfway through her glass when a tall man with blonde hair and green eyes entered and sat next to her. He spoke to her in Russian and she stared at him blankly. She needed a translator. She looked at the bartender for help.

"He asked if he could buy you another drink," he explained in his Russian accented English.

"Oh," she turned to the man, "No thank you, I'm good," she said with a smile.

"You have a very beautiful smile," he said in an Irish accent.

She tilted her head to the side, "Are you Irish?"

"Half Irish. My father is Irish, my mother is Russian," he explained with a smile. Felicity noted the dimples on his cheeks when he smiled. It was cute. He spoke to the bartender in Russian and a glass of amber liquid, probably whiskey, was placed in front of him.

"What's a lovely lady like you doing in this rat hole?" he asked turning to her.

"You mean this isn't the local ' **it** ' spot?" she asked sarcastically her arm scanning the mostly empty bar.

The bartender interrupted their conversation, "I would appreciate it if you didn't disrespect my bar."

The Irish man turned to the bartender, "Anatoly, it is what it is."

"It is a bar and a great bar it is," Anatoly responded slightly peeved.

The stranger shrugged and lifted the tumbler to his mouth. He took a sip before he turned back to Felicity. "How did you find this place? It's not exactly on the tourist maps."

"A friend recommended it. Something about the vodka," she lied smoothly.

"Yet you're not drinking vodka," he pointed out nodding to the glass of red wine she was slowly sipping at.

"I had one shot and that was more than enough," she responded.

"Lightweight," he teased lightheartedly.

"I am not!" she protested. "Let's just say vodka is not my vintage."

He nodded in understanding. "I'm Caleb."

"Gail," Felicity lied smoothly.

"Please don't say your last name is Force because I studied meteorology and I had to do a whole paper about gale force winds," he said to her, his green eyes full of amusement.

Felicity laughed, "I can assure you it is not."

"Have you tried the local restaurant down the street? It has the best food in the neighbourhood. I can take you, my treat," he offered with a charming smile.

Felicity hadn't been asked out in ages and she was flattered but before she could answer a familiar arm snaked around her waist.

"Everything ok?" Oliver's concerned voice asked. The question was directed at her but he was staring at Caleb.

"Everything is fine. Are we ready to go?" she asked trying to redirect his attention to her.

"Yes," he responded curtly, his voice dropping lower, closer to the tone he used when he was The Arrow. His gaze hadn't moved from Caleb yet.

Felicity reached into her purse to pull out a few Rubels to pay her bill when Caleb offered to pay for her drink. Oliver's hands moved from her waist and returned to the bar so fast with Rubels in it she wondered if he was a magician of some sort as well. His hand immediately returned to her lower back and started applying pressure for her to get off the stool.

She jumped down. "It was nice meeting you Caleb." For spite, Felicity leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. "Thank you for the offer but I'm going to have to decline," she whispered in his ear.

Oliver practically tugged her out of the bar. Diggle and Floyd were already in Floyd's car outside. She didn't realise they had passed her.

"Who was that?" Oliver demanded.

"A cute guy in a bar," Felicity replied innocently.

"Fel-ic-ity," he said warningly, "He could have been a threat."

"I know threats and he wasn't a threat but I was still careful. I didn't give him my real name," Felicity said walking to the car and sliding into the back seat. Oliver slid in next to her.

"You're not here to pick up men," Oliver retorted angrily essentially accusing her of something he would do. Well he would do it with women not men.

She glared at him, "I know that. You know what's funny though. Something tells me that if you had the chance to you would probably pick up a woman on a mission to maintain your weekly girlfriends."

"I have not picked anyone up on any missions," Oliver defended himself.

A cough that sounded suspiciously like Helena emerged from Diggle in the front seat. Oliver glared at his bodyguard and Diggle coughed again. This time it sounded like McKenna.

"Hypocrite!" Felicity cried slapping his forearm lightly.

* * *

When Floyd said market Felicity had pictured something completely different to the market she was currently standing in. This market was outdoors along a few back streets, not in a large building with heating. To make matters worse, since they were going undercover, Felicity couldn't wear her nice coat, no she had to blend in with a normal coat that the average Russian could afford. The market was far more colourful than she imagined with a wide assortment of goods. The other thing Felicity hadn't expected was the various smells, some good and some vomit worthy.

Along the streets vendors put up makeshift wooden structures to sell their merchandise. Since Taiana and her mother were shopping for the kitchen they were in an area dedicated to fresh produce. Felicity wasn't a culinary mastermind, in fact, she wasn't a culinary anything but she liked to think she knew the difference between a carrot and a celery. That was apparently all she knew because she couldn't identify 95% of the produce on sale. She couldn't even believe some of them were edible, they were so strange looking.

For this mission, Felicity was assigned to be the point person to contact Taiana and as such she was given a comm. Diggle was forced to go without one. With the information that Floyd provided, Felicity knew Taiana and her mother would enter the market from the south side and slowly make their way north. Felicity would be on the North end slowly making her way south.

Floyd was the first one to spot their targets entering the market with two guards tagging along behind them. Taiana's mother stopped at one vendor that had an assortment of fruit with one guard and Taiana continued on down the street with a basket and a list, the other guard following behind her. Every so often she would stop at a vendor, talk and then purchase something. It looked like she was negotiating how much she paid for each item. With the amount of money Kovar had, why would you even bother to negotiate?

Taiana's mother was still bargaining with the fruit vendor and that guard was focused entirely on her. They might get lucky and not have to distract him. Felicity stationed herself by a vendor selling something she had no idea what it was but Floyd was positive Taiana would stop by that vendor. Three vendors up Oliver walked up to the guard and started talking to him in Russian. Taiana didn't stop and continued walking down the street with her basket, stopping right next to Felicity. She hoped Oliver was able to distract the guard long enough.

"Hello," Felicity said as Taiana inspected the brown produce in front of them. It was long like a carrot but definitely not orange.

Taiana looked at her and then over he shoulder at her guard. Felicity decided to dispense with formalities and take a leap of faith.

"We do not have much time," Felicity continued quickly, "We are looking for our friend Lyla. Does Kovar have her on his compound?"

Taiana remained silent as she started picking through the pile of the mysterious brown item. She would turn it over in her hand and squeeze it to check its firmness. Felicity decided to mimic her actions. The vendor started talking to them in Russian but both women ignored him.

"Please help us. We know Kovar killed your older brother and you want to get out. We can help you," Felicity pleaded with her.

"How can you help me?" Taiana said looking at Felicity for the first time.

"We can get you and your mother out to safety," Felicity answered.

"Can you take me to America?" the Russian woman asked.

"No but we can get you set up somewhere in Russia where you will be comfortable for the rest of your life," Felicity promised.

"No,Kovar will find me. He has Bratva connections,"Taiana said shaking her head. She picked up one of the unknown items and spoke to the vendor in Russian. He said something she didn't like and she put the item back down.

"Please we need to get our friend back," Felicity pleaded again.

"Then kill him that is the only other way we'll be free,"Taiana requested in a serious tone.

Felicity was hesitant to agree but she knew Diggle was willing to do anything to get Lyla back. She knew if she refused, Diggle would blow a fuse. She knew Diggle was a solider, he had served multiple tours in Afghanistan. He had killed people before. Oliver too had killed bad people. There were just some people that law could not bring to justice. She was seeing that first hand with Tobias Church who was being held in a special cell in Iron Heights but his business was still running.

"We'll kill him for you," Felicity confirmed. "Where is Lyla?"

Taiana glanced over her shoulder to see the guard was still occupied with Oliver. "She is in the Mansion," the woman finally confirmed.

"When you get back to the Mansion, open the east gate. We'll take care of everything else from there," Felicity instructed her.

"I cannot open the gate during the day. We are monitored. It was my mother that informed Kovar about your friend. She thought it would protect us but they watch us all day now. It will have to be night when they think we are asleep,"Taiana advised.

"But Lyla…" Felicity started to protest knowing that Diggle would want to go immediately.

"Is still alive. He has no intention of killing her anytime soon. She will still be alive tonight," Taiana assured her. "The guards change shift at 11:00pm. I will open the gate at 11:30pm. I have to go now before they get suspicious."

"Wait just one more question," Felicity held up the brown thing in her hand, "What is this?"

"Turnip," Taiana said with a shrug before moving on.

Felicity stared at the turnip in her this was what a turnip looked like,no wonder she never liked turnips. Oliver left the guard alone and he moved quickly to catch up with Taiana. As he walked passed Felicity he scrutinised her carefully. She started to pull some rubels out of her purse to buy the turnip. She gave the vendor some money and he demanded more. Of course she realised that she had no idea how much the fruit was worth but she didn't want to cause a scene so she gave the vendor more money.

"That turnip is not worth that much money," Floyd commented in her ear.

Felicity rolled her eyes. She didn't really care as long as the vendor didn't make a fuss and draw attention to her. She took the turnip and moved on to the craft section of the market, in case she sparked the interest of any of the security guards. She purchased a few items and made her way back to the car. She was aware of Oliver following slowly behind her to ensure she made it to the car safely. No one would join her in the car in case she did in fact have a tail.

She drove back to the apartment, the long way, stopping in several stores before she finally arrived. She hadn't detected any tails. She expected to be the last to arrive but she found that she was first. She found that quite strange. She activated her comm unit.

"Oliver?" she asked.

"Are you ok?" came Oliver's concerned voice right away.

"Yeah I'm back at the apartment but none of you are here," she stated confused looking around the empty apartment to verify that there were no Olivers, or Diggles or Floyds around.

"We needed some extra gear for the mission tonight. We'll be back in a few hours. Get some rest." The line then terminated.

Get some rest! How did he expect her to rest when they were MIA and their planned needed to be tweaked to take out couldn't tweak the plan by herself so she needed to find something else to do since she was positive her over active imagination would come up with all sorts of scenarios if she tried to rest.

She decided to follow up on the news of Hannah's hit and run since she hadn't had a chance since they went into planning mode. According to her searches, Hannah had been arrested on charges of vehicular manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident but before they could take her into the precinct, she had been committed to a mental institution. The gossip sites claimed she had gone mad and when officers came to arrest her she stripped naked and ran through the house screaming she was set up. Felicity decided she didn't want to know any more about the event. The important point was that Oliver was no longer wanted by the police. There was an official statement form Captain Lance apologising to Oliver for the statements made against him. The Captain looked like he ate sour lemons during the entire apology. She made a mental note to share the video with Oliver when they were safe on the plane.

After looking at the press conference she clicked on Susan William's webpage that was dedicated to The Hood. She wondered what the woman would make of The Hood's recent absence from the streets. She was surprised to find that there were reports that the Red Hood had been seen every night. Red Hood had stopped three muggings and one attempted armed robbery at Big Belly Burger. Oliver was going to kill Roy when they got back. He was not supposed to go out on the streets without back up. That was Oliver's number one rule. You always needed backup except of course if it came to him. He magically didn't need backup.

Felicity found an article on the webpage that speculated that The Hood had been injured and that was why his sidekick had been out every night by were wild theories circulating that he had been seriously injured or maybe even killed during the take down of Tobias Church. Fans were scanning the obituary pages looking for the possible identity of The Hood.

It was four hours later when Oliver and Diggle came through the door with a suitcase.

"I thought I told youto rest," was the first thing Oliver said to her. "We have a very long night ahead of us."

She rolled her eyes. She was beginning to become intimately familiar with his frowny face. "You expected me to sleep when I had no idea where you guys were."

"Yes. I told you we went for extra supplies. We will be able to complete our part of the deal with Taiana."

"How?"

Diggle sighed, "The 'How' doesn't matter. Your part of the plan doesn't change and timing of the plan doesn't change. Drop us off at the East Gate and pick us up half an hour later at the West Gate. You'll have a comm. If things go awry we will let you know."

"I don't like not knowing, I'm a part of this team too," Felicity stated upset.

Oliver placed both his hands on her shoulders, "You are a very important part of the team Felicity but sometimes you have to trust us to handle things. The new addition isn't set in stone. It could change on location. We don't know where in the mansion Kovar will be. Just trust us to get it done."

"Oliver's right Felicity. You need to focus on the drop off and pick up and not being spotted," Diggle said supporting Oliver.

"Ok," Felicity huffed, "But for the record, I don't like this."

* * *

At 11:30pm on the dot, Felicity approached the east gate of Kovar's mansion estate with her lights off. The lighting around the mansion was poor and it was easy for her to go unnoticed. Oliver, Digg, and Floyd jumped out of the car and headed to the gate. The gate opened and Felicity saw them conversing with Taiana before the gate closed. Her first part of the mission was complete. She had to drive away from the mansion, turn on her lights and drive around the small town close by before returning to the west gate to collect them. She had her route memorised. Drive into the centre of town, stop and look at the church, which was the tourist attraction there and then drive back to the mansion.

She parked near the church but never got out of her car. She was too busy going through everything that could possibly go wrong in her head. A group of women passed her car and headed up the steps of the church. They entered the building and disappeared behind the safety of the church's doors. They were probably there for midnight mass. It was one of the few churches that still offered that service.

As the clock struck 11:50pm, Felicity put her car in gear and started the trip back to the mansion. Her route required her to go in the opposite direction first and then swing back towards the Mansion. Everything was going smoothly until she saw a police vehicle that had pulled aside another car. The police men were interrogating the persons in the car. She was hoping to drive passed without being stopped but a policeman stepped in front of her car and indicated for her to stop. She complied and he approached her driver's side window.

As she wound down the window her heart was hammering in her chest. She fought to keep the panic at bay. She needed to remain calm and act as if she wasn't part of a team there to kill the local millionaire. When the policeman arrived at her window, he started speaking to her in Russian.

"English please," she asked politely. She may have sounded a bit scared but she supposed if she was a tourist who didn't speak Russian and the police stopped her in the middle of the night, she should be a little scared.

He spoke to her in Russian again.

"I cannot understand what you're telling me. I don't speak Russian," she reiterated.

He spoke to her in Russian again and she remained silent. He turned to his comrade and called him over.

"You don't speak Russian?" the new policeman asked when he arrived. The car with the men they were interrogating was still parked at the side of the road.

"No I don't," she responded.

"What are you doing in the area?" he asked.

"I came here to see the church," she replied.

"Most people come during the day," the policeman pointed out.

"Which is why I came at night. Churches are more serene when it's just you and God," she responded.

The man seemed to accept the answer and she was thankful he seemed to be religious. "You didn't stay for midnight mass?"

"No, I prefer to speak directly to God rather than through his messenger or at least I hope it works that way. If it doesn't I might be going to hell," she answered.

The policeman cracked a smile, "You may go."

Felicity counted to ten in her head before pulling off. She didn't want to appear too eager. She glanced at her clock and it was one minute passed midnight. She was late! Oliver's voice started speaking in her ear, "Felicity we need a few more minutes."

"Roger," she responded. She wasn't about to admit to him that she wasn't there yet. She had one task to do and she was late.

She arrived just in time to see the gate open and Oliver's head pop out. Felicity jumped from the vehicle to open the back door. Digg and Oliver emerged from the gate with a shape slumped between them, Floyd trailing behind them with a large gun in each hand. Felicity slid into the back seat and helped them lower the form into the seat. Diggle Jumped in with her as Oliver took the driver's seat and Floyd the front passenger seat. It seemed like they were moving before Oliver even closed his door.

Felicity had seen a picture of Lyla in her file and the woman slumped against Diggle looked nothing like her. Her face was a combination of deep purple bruises and green and yellow spots from bruises that had started to heal. Both eyes were swollen shut and her hair looked like it was caked with blood. She wondered how they knew it was Lyla.

"Johnny," the form mumbled softly. Ok she supposed that confirmed it was Lyla.

"Lyla, baby, I'm right here. Talk to me," Digg said linking his hand through hers. Felicity noted the dark marks on her arms that contrasted sharply with her pale white skin.

"I knew you would come for me," she said weakly.

"I told you Lyla. Wherever you are, I will find you," the love he held for her was very much present in his voice.

Felicity felt she was intruding on an intimate moment and she looked away.

"Where did they hurt you?" Diggle asked his voice cracking at the end. You could hear the torment in it.

"Side," she said trying to move her hand to her side to pull at her shirt there.

Felicity scooted closer to her and started lifting her shirt very carefully for her. She noted the shirt was wet and upon closer inspection she realised it was blood. She found a large deep gash across her side and on the other side an area that had been sewn up. Some of her abdomen was purple and Felicity wondered if she was bleeding internally.

Lyla's hand moved over the stitched area, "Tracker," she said weakly.

"Tracker? They put a tracker in you?" Diggle asked concerned.

"Yes," she managed to answer before she slipped into unconsciousness.

"Oliver," Diggle said urgently. "We need to get to a Doctor."

"The plane is scheduled to leave soon," Oliver replied.

"Lyla has a tracker in her we need to get that out before we leave," Diggle said seriously.

"There's a surgeon at the general hospital in Moscow that ARGUS uses. I'll give her a call," Floyd said pulling out his phone. "She has done plenty of work for ARGUS in the past and keeps it very quiet."

Floyd and Oliver worked out the details while Felicity opened the first aid box and started wiping and cleaning the bruises she could see.

* * *

Lyla was in surgery. The surgeon that Floyd had taken them to had conducted a basic exam and then rushed Lyla into surgery. He suspected that her spleen had ruptured and she needed emergency surgery to repair it. An X-ray revealed where the tracker had been placed and he would remove that as well. Blood was needed for the surgery and fortunately Lyla was AB positive and could receive blood from all of them so they didn't have to dip into the blood bank at the hospital which would raise questions. Diggle and Oliver each donated a pint of blood first. If she needed any additional pints, Felicity and Floyd would then donate. Felicity wasn't fond of needles so she was more than happy to be given the option to wait.

Since they were staying off the radar, they used an old operation theatre that wasn't in use. Oliver, Diggle and Floyd were the nurses and Felicity was on lookout duty. From what Floyd had explained in the car, it had taken them longer to get to Lyla without setting off the alarms. When they finally reached to her, her physical condition also slowed them down. Kovar hadn't been home but Taiana gave them his schedule for the next day and made them swear they would take care of him. Floyd said he would handle it. He wasn't called Deadshot or nothing.

Felicity noted everyone that came and went in the reception area. Two men eventually caught her attention. They looked like trouble. Felicity poked her head into the operation theatre just as the doctor was dropping the tracking device onto a metal tray next to him. That was a good sign. The doctor had finished the major part of the surgery and was finally able to focus on removing the tracker.

"I think we have company outside," Felicity stated.

"I'll deal with them," Oliver said putting some blood stained instruments on the tray.

"Actually I have another idea. Give me the tracker. I can lure them away from the hospital and give you time to stitch up Lyla," Felicity stated.

Oliver pulled off his gloves, picked up a clear plastic bag, turned it inside out and picked up the blood covered tracker. He pulled the bag over it and then sealed it.

"Digg, Floyd, you're on your own. We'll use the car. They probably already identified it anyway. I've rescheduled the plane to leave tomorrow morning at 8:00am. We'll meet you at the plane. Make sure Lyla's in a good condition to fly."

"She'll be ready," Diggle said confidently.

"Let's go," Oliver said to Felicity.

His large hand enclosed around her wrist and he pulled her towards the back entrance. They circled around to the front. Oliver kept her close as they headed to the car. Felicity saw two strange men out front watching them as they went to car. Her hair was tucked into a hat so they had no way of knowing if she was Lyla or someone else. For show she leaned heavily on Oliver. He automatically knew what she was doing and guided her to the passenger side door. He helped her onto the seat.

"Buckle up," he ordered sprinting to the other side of the car.

The men started moving towards them while they reached into their coats. Felicity knew they were drawing their weapons. Oliver jumped into the car and put it in gear right away. He crouched down in the seat as a hail of bullets was fired at them breaking the back windshield of the car as Oliver sped away from the men. When they turned the corner, a block later, Oliver sat up straight and chanced a glance behind them.

"They're following us," Oliver said.

"We do have a tracker on us," Felicity pointed out sarcastically. "Kind of makes it hard to just disappear."

"I throw it out at the next corner," Oliver said.

Felicity held on to the door for dear life. Oliver was driving faster than she thought was possible for the car they were in. After Oliver threw the tracker out he thought he would lose them easily but no matter what tactic he tried they remained behind them. They kept firing their weapons at them and Felicity was sure they lost a tire three blocks back. Their situation was further complicated when they picked up two cop cars chasing both cars.

Oliver exited the hustle and bustle of the city onto a road that ran parallel with the Moskva river, the river after which Moscow was named.

"Felicity I have an idea but you're not going to like it," he stated his eyes darting between the road and the river.

"I don't like them shooting bullets at us. It can't be worse than that," Felicity responded crouched in her seat.

"Ok get ready to open your door and move fast," he ordered.

Suddenly, Oliver changed lanes and slammed on the breaks stopping the car at the entrance to a bridge that spanned the river. Their car stopped all traffic from going and coming. Cars that were trying to exit the bridge started honking at them.

"Out," instructed.

Felicity unbuckled herself quickly and jumped out the door. Oliver's side of the car faced the men and the police so he jumped over the gear stick and exited on her side. They kept their heads low as the men tried to shoot at them but then the police engaged the men and it was a shootout. Oliver guided them to the cars that were stopped on the bridge.

"Do you trust me?" Oliver asked suddenly.

"I think it's fair to say that I trust you with my life Oliver," she replied.

"Good then save the questions for later," he said.

He reached down and picked her up bridal style and turned towards the railing of the bridge. She didn't know how he did it but he jumped over the railing with both of them. Felicity closed her eyes and inhaled prepared to meet ice cold water but instead there was a loud thud and she was somehow on top of Oliver. When she opened her eyes, he was on his back and she was on top of him. Furthermore they were moving above the water. He had timed their jump to land on the roof of a river tour boat. She looked back up at the bridge that was quickly receding into the distance behind them. Wow!

She heard a chuckle and looked back at him.

"I thought there would be questions?" he teased.

"I'm still trying to process the fact that we jumped off a bridge and that we landed on a boat and I'm still alive," Felicity said. Her eyes went wide in horror, "Oh my God I landed on you Oliver. Are you ok? How did I even land on you?"

"I'm fine. I turned so that I would take the impact. Let's just focus on getting off this boat and back to the airport. There's a dock up ahead. I'll talk to the Captain to drop us off there. It might take some rubels though," he said putting his hand out.

A crowd of tourists were beginning to gather below them. They were pointing at them and the crew of the boat didn't look pleased.

"Why Mr. Queen are you asking your date to pay?" she teased. She had stuffed the last of the rubels she won at the casino in her jean's pockets in case she needed it. She had been looking forward to changing it into US$ at the airport. Guess she could kiss that dream goodbye.

"I thought you were a modern woman?" he quipped.

"Next time you pay" she said cheekily.

He took the money and helped her onto the deck of the boat. While he spoke to the Captain she avoided everyone. She hoped no one recognised Oliver that was the last thing they needed. The Captain did indeed drop them at the next dock and then they walked to the nearest entrance to the Mosco Metro. Oliver had kept just enough rubels to purchase their tickets back to the apartment.

* * *

Felicity collapsed into the seat on the plane. She was exhausted. Diggle and Lyla were in the bedroom and she had an IV hooked up. Oliver hired a doctor to travel with them back to the States to ensure that Lyla survived the journey. That meant that Felicity would have to sleep in her seat but that was ok. She had learned to sleep on a plane long ago.

She woke up several times during the flight to check on Lyla. The woman was holding up very well and the doctor had no cause for concern. During her last check Felicity realised she had an hour left before they landed and Felicity decided to stay awake. She needed to come up with a story for her mother. Perhaps she could say prince charming swept her off her feet and took her on his golden chariot to his castle but then her mother would want details, no that wouldn't work.

Oliver had actually fallen asleep on the seat opposite her and she couldn't help but stare at him. He looked at peace. The slight frown that marred his features was gone. His eyes suddenly opened and he looked straight at her. She chose to hold his gaze but her mouth just had to fill the silence.

"I was supposed to tell you your name was cleared and show you the video of Captain Lance apologising," she told him.

He smiled. "I never had a doubt you would get my name cleared."

Warmth flooded Felicity. It made her very happy to know that he had such faith in her.

"Get some more rest. I'm sure you'll have a long line of clients banging on your door when you get back." The frown returned to his features and she knew exactly what he was going to ask next. "Speaking of your door, despite the fact that I sent three locksmiths to fix the lock on your door, the original thing that passes for a lock is still there."

Felicity rolled her eyes, "All three locksmiths would have informed you that the door frame could not accommodate a deadbolt and the landlord doesn't want to drill in to the drywall. Plus if its dry wall it's not like it's going to be that effective. I'm sure you could kick it open easily."

Oliver grumbled, "I'll figure something out," and then he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. It has my favourite scene in the entire story.


	8. Quentin L:ance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

Oliver had been right. As soon as she returned she had a string of clients knocking on her door. Interestingly, one had even been a referral from Moira, another wealthy socialite that wanted evidence of her husband's cheating. The new socialite was willing to pay even more than Moira and she found with that income she was able to work pro bono for some of her clients who were desperately in need of her services but had no spare funds to pay her.

Diggle had taken a few days off from his duties both as Oliver's bodyguard and his role in the Arrow Base to help Lyla recover from her injuries. Roy was, well, quite frankly Roy was lucky to be alive since Oliver had blown a gasket when he discovered that Arsenal had been in the field. It was further compounded when he discovered that Thea had been running comms for Roy. The young boy had taken to hiding out in her small office until Hurricane Oliver dissipated.

Felicity estimated that Oliver would be welcoming Roy back into the fold very soon. Thea had somehow managed to negotiate with Oliver to allow her to stay in the base and learn how to work the comm system properly. His sister was also working on getting Roy back in Oliver's good graces. It was funny how Oliver thought he could resist the charm of his baby sister. He really couldn't. Thea had him wrapped around her pinky finger and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. The one down side to Thea being in the base with them meant Oliver's shirt stayed on when she was around.

It was nice to pass on her knowledge to someone else but it was clear how much of a sheltered life Thea had lived. She had been in shock as to how the underprivileged in the city survived. Thea found it hard to believe that people could really live out of a cardboard box. Felicity wondered how much Roy was keeping from Thea. She knew he lived in a very bad part of town and had seen some horrible things growing up.

Being a private detective meant Felicity saw the worst of human nature 95% of the time and hardly anything shocked her anymore. A good example was the report she was staring at on her computer screen. A pregnant wife had come to her with concerns that her husband, a high school literature teacher, was cheating on her with another teacher. She was right about the cheating but not about the fellow teacher. He was having an affair with not one, not two but three of his students from different grades. The youngest was 14. It was time to pass the case on to The Arrow and Captain Lance. The man was breaking the law and needed to be stopped.

There was a loud bang at her door, "Bitch you in there," a gruff voice said as the handle on her door rotated.

When the door didn't open Felicity realised it was actually locked. Roy must have locked it when she kicked him out of her office that morning after his moping had begun to annoy her. The handle started to vibrate more as the person on the other side of the door tried to get it open. Suddenly the door flew open with a loud bang, the door frame splintering from the force. She recognised an angry Mr. Kumar standing in front of her. She had been hired by his mother-in-law to capture video of him abusing her daughter. The woman suspected that the bruises her daughter regularly sported were not caused by accidents and falls but by her son-in-law and she wanted evidence to go to the police because it appeared her daughter wasn't going to do anything about the situation. The video feed went directly to her client and Felicity hadn't been called to do anything else for the case.

She probably should have followed up. The man standing in front of her had bloodshot eyes, flaring nostrils and a baseball bat. He looked capable of murder, her murder. Felicity tried not to panic. She had a taser in the bottom draw of her desk

"You're going to regret what you did," he screamed at her slamming the baseball bat down on her laptop and desk.

There was a sickening crack as her old desk split in half and collapsed in the middle. Felicity barely moved her chair back in time to avoid getting her legs caught under the desk. Her poor laptop was badly damaged. He swung the bat at her and she ducked to the side and landed on the floor. The swing connected with the back of the chair, breaking it away from the seat and sending it flying into the drywall on side of the office.

She reached for the draw and tried to get it open but because that side of the desk was lying at an odd angle it wasn't opening properly. She used her feet to level that bit of the table and open the draw but she had taken too much time to do that and the bat was swinging her way again. She had no choice but to lift her left arm to try and block the attack and keep it away from the vital areas of her body. Pain exploded through her left arm at the same time her right hand encircled the taser. Once she felt the taser securely in her hand, she pulled it out of the draw and dropped her body flat to the floor to avoid the follow through on his swing.

She was lying on her back looking up at her attacker on the other side of her broken desk. She ignored the excruciating pain in her arm, and focused all of her concentration on aiming the taser at Mr. Kumar. She needed to slow him down. She lifted the taser and aimed for his chest. She squeezed the trigger as he was lifting the bat to swing at her again.

The prongs buried themselves into his chest and his body went still as the current neutralised all of his actions. The bat dropped from his hand onto the ground with a clamour that drew Felicity's eyes to offensive object. The first five second burst ended and the man started to regain control of his body. He leaned over to retrieve his bat off the floor but the second burst of charge incapacitated him again. He lost his balance, fell sidewards and hit his head on the one sturdy item in her office, the chair she bought for her clients to sit on. That seemed to knock him out.

She forced herself up on to her knees and crawled into the corner of her office and stared at the man lying unconscious in front of her. She knew she was in shock and she knew some part of her arm was broken but she just needed a moment to gather herself together. She knew that the man might wake up at any moment but she couldn't bring herself to move yet. Her body felt like it weighed a tonne and her mind was beginning to float away from the pain. The edges of her vision started to see stars and her eyelids were getting heavy.

She barely registered movement in the room before Oliver appeared kneeling in front of her. She could see his mouth moving but she couldn't hear what he was saying. He took her face in both his hands and his thumb stroked both of her cheeks tenderly as his lips continued to move. When his gaze dropped down to her left arm, his expression darkened. She imagined that was what he looked like as the Arrow when he confronted muggers. He turned around to look at the man on the ground and Felicity noticed Diggle standing over the man with a gun pointed at him. She briefly wondered when he came back to work.

Suddenly sound flooded back in and she heard all sorts of sounds like a car honking in the street, the skateboard of the kid next door and Oliver's lovely voice. It felt like a lifeline she needed.

"Felicity we need to get you to the hospital," his tone was urgent and his eyes encouraged her to listen to him and not resist.

That seemed to snap her out of the trance and with her return to reality the pain came flooding back in.

"No," she groaned. "We need to call the police. I need to put him in jail or he'll continue to beat his wife. If she won't press charges, I will. Call the police."

"You need medical attention," Oliver insisted.

"I think I'll survive," she said. "He only got my arm with the bat." She hadn't looked down at her arm yet. A part of her was afraid to look. With one swing of his bat he broke her desk, with the other her chair. She didn't want to know what his third swing did to her arm. She knew it had to be broken but she didn't want to know how badly broken.

The anger she saw course through Oliver's face when she mentioned her arm sent a dark thrill through her. He seemed to realise she wasn't going anywhere and he pulled out his phone to make a call. Felicity tried to get off the floor but the moment she moved her hand, a cry of pain erupted from her. Oliver was at her side in a second.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I just need to figure out how to get up."

With those words Oliver was lifting her bridal style off the floor. He took extra care not to jar her arm and he placed her on the client's chair. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the throbbing pain from her arm. Diggle still had his gun trained on the unconscious man while Oliver continued to focus on her. He started asking her questions about the pain and if she could handle it. That was when she finally built up the courage to look at her arm. Her ulna and radius were indeed broken if the little bit of bone that was jutting out of her skin was any indication. She was on the verge of telling him to leave her alone when a new voice drew her attention.

"Kid, what trouble did you get yourself into this time?" the voice said.

She turned her head to see Captain Lance standing in her office surveying the scene and two patrol officers behind him inspecting the remnants of her door. Captain Lance seemed most interested in the unconscious man on the ground. She turned back to Oliver.

"You called Captain Lance?" she said looking at Oliver astonished.

"You said to call the police," he replied with a shrug.

"So you called the police captain. A normal officer would have sufficed," she admonished.

"Is Queen or his bodyguard responsible for the unconscious guy on the ground?" Captain Lance asked.

"That would actually be me?" she admitted.

"What happened?" he asked his eyes zeroing in on her arm. His face winced with sympathy for her. "A quick summation you need to go to the hospital and get your arm taken care of now."

"He broke through my door," Felicity started her explanation.

"I told you that lock needed to change," Oliver interjected here and she shot him a furious glare. He did not back down.

She looked back at Captain Lance and continued, "He attacked me with that baseball bat. He broke my desk, my chair and my arm, in that order before I was able to use my taser on him. He hit his head on this chair on the way down and he's been unconscious since then."

"Anyone call an ambulance for him," Captain Lance asked.

"No," came the gruff answer from both Oliver and Diggle.

"Ok, Queen take her to the hospital. This office is officially a crime scene and we'll handle the matter from here," Captain Lance ordered.

* * *

Felicity slowly returned to consciousness. The lights were very bright and she tried to move her hands to cover her face. Her right hand complied easily but her left hand caused a surge of pain. It was then that she remembered that she was in the hospital because of the attack the previous day. The doctors had taken X-rays of her arm to examine the breaks. They confirmed that she needed surgery to reset her bones. Oliver insisted that it had to be done immediately and he had the best orthopedic surgeon in the city do it.

The doctor told her that he would put her under for the surgery and that she was would wake up the next day with her arm in a cast. She glanced down at her arm and did find it wrapped in a white cast.

"You're awake," a soft female voice said.

Felicity turned to find a nurse stationed at the end of her bed.

"Yes," she said her throat dry.

The nurse moved quickly to the side of the bed and offered her a glass of water. Felicity gratefully accepted it.

"The doctor will be here soon to check on you," the nurse said heading back to her station.

If she remembered correctly Oliver had insisted that she be given a private room and he even hired a private nurse to keep watch over her all night since the hospital refused to budge on the policy that only allowed family members to stay in private rooms overnight. Her arm started to throb and she realised that the pain medication was wearing off.

The nurse helped her to the bathroom where Felicity cleaned up. She found a fresh set of clothes waiting for her and she wondered where they had come from. They were definitely from her closet. She couldn't quite remember everything that happened when she reached the hospital but she was sure that she had sent a text to her mom telling her she wouldn't be home that night because of a case. It wouldn't be the first time that a case had kept her out all night. However, it was the first time that she was injured on the job.

She heard the door to her room open and the nurse informed her that the doctor was there to see her. He gave her some medication for the pain while he conducted a general examine. He was satisfied with the results and agreed to release her from the hospital.

As soon as the doctor left Oliver popped his head into the room, "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

Oliver walked into the room and collected her bag that was at the foot of the bed.

"Oliver, how did I get these clothes?" she asked him as she followed him out of the room.

He stopped to look at her, "Your mom."

"You met my mother?" she asked horrified. She never, ever wanted Oliver to meet her mother!

"Diggle met your mother. I stayed here with you," he replied. He resumed walking and Felicity followed behind him.

"Did he tell her what happened?" Felicity asked. She knew she was going to be in major trouble with her mother but the longer she could put it off the better.

"Since you didn't mention it to her, he didn't think it was his place to tell her," Oliver explained.

Felicity breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother could be a handful. They stopped in front of the elevator and Oliver pressed the button.

"So what did he tell her?" Felicity asked.

"I don't know," Oliver replied.

Felicity cocked her head to the side. How on Earth had he convinced her mother to give him her clothes?

* * *

Oliver's car pulled up in front of her house and he rushed around to her side of the car to help her out. She was perfectly capable of getting out of the car by herself, even with the broken arm but she let him do it. The pain medication was beginning to make her feel a little sleepy. He collected her bag from the back seat and then he guided her to her front door. She knew her mother wasn't home. She would have gone to work.

"Oliver can I get a lift to my office later to get my car and phone?" she asked him.

Oliver rubbed the back of his head, "Actually your phone and car keys are at the police station. The forensics team collected everything. Lance will have to release them to you and that won't be today. I can drive you wherever you need to go," Oliver offered. "It's probably for the best. You need rest."

Felicity rolled her eyes, of course Oliver would think her being stuck home was for the best. "What happened to Kumar?" Felicity asked.

"He was arrested but he lawyered up. A judge gave him bail and his mother posted it this morning. Diggle informs me he's home with his wife," Oliver said darkly.

"Oliver, please don't do anything. Let the police handle it. I've pressed charges," Felicity said.

Oliver didn't respond instead he looked at the closed door. "Do you have a key?"

Felicity groaned, "It was on my car keys. Why didn't I remember that earlier? This medication has my head all fuzzy," she said leaning her head against him. His arm encircled her and he ran his hand comfortingly through her hair.

"Perhaps, I should open the door then," Oliver suggested. He let go of her briefly and pulled a lock pick set from his jacket. Felicity was momentarily taken back that he would carry something like that with him during the day. She thought he would only need it for his night job. In less seconds he had her front door opened. From the frown on his face she knew what was coming next.

"You need a better lock," he stated.

"Do you have some sort of lock fetish or something?" she asked.

Oliver smiled and Felicity exhaled dreamily. He was so handsome when he smiled.

His hand came up to caress her face, "Do you need me to get you anything?" Oliver asked.

Felicity leaned into his hand, "No I'm great. The Big Belly Burger we picked up on the way here is good," she reassured him.

"I almost lost you." His thumb started to stroke her cheek again.

She could see the fear in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He really was afraid that he could have lost her.

She scoffed at the idea. "Please it takes more than a man and a baseball bat to take me down."

Oliver's thumb stopped his ministrations and he growled softly. "No one is ever hurting you again."

"Oliver you can't make that promise. What I do is dangerous," she pointed out. She stepped away from him and lay down on the couch.

"As long as I'm in your life Felicity, this isn't going to happen again," Oliver insisted stubbornly.

Felicity closed her eyes for a moment, she was back in her office with Kumar busting in through the door. She jumped awake and discovered her mother kneeling next to her with concern showing in her eyes.

"Felicity are you ok? You were having a nightmare?"

She realised she must have fallen asleep. There was a blanket covering her, and her big belly burger was on the coffee table waiting for her. She pulled the blanket off her with her right hand and sat up.

"Felicity is that a cast on your arm!" her mother gasped. "And who is Oliver?"

Felicity looked down at the cast and was surprised when she saw red writing on it.

_Get well soon – Oliver_

* * *

The next day Felicity took a cab to her office but it was still a crime scene. There was an officer posted at the door collecting evidence and he took her official statement. Her laptop was evidence that she wouldn't be getting back any time soon so she went to the nearest Tech Village and bought herself a new one. All of the money Moira had paid her was going to be used up paying her hospital bill and paying for the damage to her office. It was funny how one moment things could be fine and the next an utter mess.

She decided to focus on finishing off the reports for the cases she had been working on. It was a very frustrating experience. With her arm in a sling, she was forced to type with one hand and it was infuriatingly slow. On top of that, her mother decided to take a few days off to stay home with her and Frank had sent her an e-mail asking for a report on the incident. She heard her mother's phone ring and shortly later her mother appeared.

"Felicity honey, Captain Lance is asking if you can come down to the station?" her mother said.

Felicity leaped at the chance to do something other than the reports, "Yes." She hoped they were ready to release her phone and car keys. She really needed them. After assuring her mother that she could get to the police station by herself, Felicity was able to leave the apartment.

An hour later Felicity found herself seated in an interrogation room. She was able to get her phone and car keys but Captain Lance had some follow up questions for her. He had kept her waiting in the room for ten minutes before he finally showed up.

"I thought usually suspects were interviewed in these rooms," she said when Captain Lance entered the room. He look unapologetic and he sat down on the seat opposite her with a folder in his hand. His face didn't look very friendly at all. She glanced at the two-way mirror and wondered if anyone was behind it.

"It's just a few routine questions. Nothing to be worried about unless you have something to hide," the Captain said with a serious look.

Felicity shifted in her seat. She felt like she was being accused of something. "What is this about?"

"Do you know the Vigilante that's been running around the Glades?" he asked.

"You mean the Robin Hood guy?" she asked. Her senses went into high alert. She was going to have to be very careful with what she said to Captain Lance.

"Yeah that would be the one," Lance commented dryly.

"No at least I don't think that I know him. Doesn't he have some mask or something?" It wasn't really a lie. Yes she knew the vigilante's identity but she would like to think that after only a couple of months working with Oliver she still had a lot more to learn about him so she didn't really know him. Granted she knew him much better than everyone else in his life but that wasn't the question. "Why?"

"I'll ask the questions Ms. Smoak. Mr. Kumar was assaulted by the vigilante last night and taken to the hospital yesterday," Lance explained. "The interesting thing is the vigilante made sure to break his left arm with a baseball bat. In fact every injury Kumar sustained matched the list of suspected injuries that he had given to his wife. We found that information in the case file you had in your office."

Felicity fought hard to keep her features schooled. Oliver did not tell her he was going to do that. In fact she specifically asked him not to do anything stupid!

"Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?" she asked trying to deflect away from any possible connection that could be made between her and the vigilante.

"It's kind of interesting for the vigilante to suddenly be interested in Kumar don't you think?" Lance asked suspiciously.

Felicity shrugged, "It seems to me that the vigilante is a hero Captain. Maybe you should cut him some slack. He seems to deliver the justice the police can't."

"That is not justice," Lance said showing her pictures of Kumar. Felicity didn't even bother to look at them. She knew what Oliver was capable of. Instead, she decided to debate the concept of justice with Lance.

"It isn't justice?" Felicity questioned. "You're going to tell me he didn't deserve to have the shit beaten out of him. You should treat people how you wish to be treated. He thought it was ok to beat up his wife so it must be ok for the vigilante to beat him up."

"You're as bad as him," Captain Lance spat at her.

"I've seen the bad in this city and it needs someone strong like him to stand up and defend it. He should be applauded for putting his life on the line every night to help people he doesn't even know!" Felicity stressed. "Now is this interview over?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Just one other thing you should know. Kumar said The Hood warned him to stay away from his wife and you or he would be back to finish off the job."

"My hero," Felicity said a bit breathlessly. "I might actually be able to sleep tonight without seeing Kumar coming at me with a bat again."

She stood up and walked out of the interrogation room without looking back at Captain Lance. She wanted to call Oliver so bad and talk to him but she knew that was probably what Lance was hoping for. She decided she would return home and wait until Oliver sought her out.

* * *

Felicity had been working from home for three days when she heard the doorbell ring and then high pitched squealing from her mother. That could only mean one thing, Oliver had finally come to check on her.

"Felicity!" her mother screeched before her bedroom door flung open and her mother, dressed in a bright yellow tightly fitted dress appeared in her room.

"You didn't tell me that Oliver was Oliver Queen!" her mother said excitedly.

Really there was no reason her mother should be that excited. It was just Oliver. She could only imagine how her mother would react if she ever saw him on the salmon ladder.

"I didn't think it was important," Felicity lied. She knew full well how important Oliver's last name was.

Her mom went over to her mirror. "I need to change my clothes! I'm not dressed properly and oh heavens! I've barely got any make up on."

Her mother scuttled out of her room towards her own bedroom and Felicity sprang from the bed. She needed to get Oliver out of the house fast before her mother embarrassed her further.

"Oliver! What are you doing here?" she asked angrily.

"Hi," he said nervously. Oh he had a right to be nervous. The little stunt he pulled with Kumar has put her in Captain Lance's crosshairs.

"Do you need something?" she asked. "Or are you here to get me in trouble with Captain Lance again."

He frowned, "Captain Lance is troubling you?"

He was obviously unaware of her interrogation and she decided to drop the topic for now. Her apartment was not the place to have this specific conversation. "Never mind, what do you need?"

He knew she was withholding information from him but he decided to answer her question, "I need help setting up an internet connection?"

Felicity frowned. "Where?" She knew he had internet at Verdant and his mansion. Where else did he need internet?

"Grab your coat lets go," he told her.

Felicity was more than happy to follow his instructions and get out of the house before her mother returned. Whenever she was finished with Oliver she was going to have to prepare for an inquisition at home. Her mother would probably want to know, why she never mentioned that she knew Oliver Queen. From there it would go to, how long she had known Oliver Queen and eventually it would probably end with her mother wanting to know if she was getting a piece of him.

Twenty five minutes later they were pulling into Verdant's parking lot. Felicity exited the vehicle at the same time as Oliver and expected to follow him into Verdant but she instead found Oliver walking to the building across the street. A confused Felicity followed quietly behind him. He walked up to a door that seemed to be made of steel with three locks on it. He looked up to the corner where there was a camera looking down at the entrance. There was a buzzing sound and the door opened.

Felicity followed him into a short narrow corridor that had another door at the end. There was another camera watching them. She felt like she was in a holding pen. The door behind them closed and then the second door opened. Felicity followed Oliver into a large open room where Diggle, Roy, Thea and Mrs. Queen were waiting.

"Surprise!" Thea yelled loudly. She was standing in the middle of the room facing them. Diggle was leaning against the wall looking out the window at the view of Verdant. Roy was next to him and Mrs. Queen was standing just a few feet away from her.

"What?" Felicity asked dumbly. She was very confused. What was the surprise?

Moira seemed to understand her confusion and explained the situation to her, "This is your new office dear. Oliver heard that your landlord was kicking you out since he deemed your business too dangerous and he decided to find you a more secure location. I know it doesn't look like much now but Thea has a lot of plans. I have quite a few works of art that will complement these walls nicely."

Felicity was stunned. She had not been expecting this.

"Yes I have plenty of ideas. I was thinking Roy's desk could be here," Thea said pointing to the ground below where she was standing, "And…"

"Wait hold up!" Felicity said raising her palm in the air, "My new office? Roy's desk?"

Diggle chuckled lowly and she could tell from the smile on his face, he was enjoying the show.

"Yes, Oliver bought the building," Thea started to explain and Felicity turned to face Oliver.

"Oliver," she growled under her breath.

"You needed a new place and I needed a tenant I can trust in this building. I'm planning on using the basement for training for the team. We'll train here and run missions from Verdant. I can't just put anybody in this space," Oliver said to her.

"Really," Felicity said with narrowed eyes. For some reason she doubted him. "And what's the rent like?"

Oliver crossed his hands behind his back, "Since you're doing me a favour, rent is free."

"Oliver!" she said flailing her one good arm in the air. "I can't accept that!"

Oliver quickly uncrossed his hands from behind his back and caught her hand in his.

"Felicity," he said in that soft tone that was very effective in calming her rage. His thumbs also started rubbing circles into his skin. She knew he had a nervous habit of rubbing his thumb and index finger together but he seemed to have substituted that with rubbing his thumbs on her skin. It was becoming a thing with them. "It's a win-win situation for both of us. Logically it makes sense. Why should I have someone else in this space when you need a place for your business?"

"I still think I need to pay rent," Felicity sulked.

"You do, when you work with me at nights," Oliver assured her. "Think of this as an exchange for services rendered."

"But Oliver I help you because I believe in what you do. I don't need anything in return," she clarified.

"Please?" Oliver asked his blue eyes pleading with her to give in.

She already felt herself relaxing and ideas for what her new office could look like started to assault her brain. There was nothing she could do but accept Oliver's offer. He would probably keep hounding her until she did anyway. With a large exhale Felicity agreed.

"Ok but what was that comment about Roy's desk?" she asked.

Oliver gave her a cocky smirk, "He's your new secretary/bodyguard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	9. Roy Harper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

Roy Harper had zero skills to work as a secretary. He couldn't even answer the phone properly. "Hey, what do you want?" was not the appropriate way to answer her business phone. "Hey, who do you need followed?" wasn't an option either. After writing out on several cue cards detailing the appropriate greetings she accepted, she then had to write out the follow up procedure passed the "Good Morning, Smoak Detective Agency. How may I help you?". Felicity realised quickly she was going to have to train Roy herself and she was determined to turn him into a working professional.

She discovered that Roy hadn't even finished his high school education and she decided that was a great place to start her training. She bought several text books and informed Roy that he would be taking his GED test in three months. Naturally that didn't go over well with him so she gave him the option of either doing the test or facing Oliver's wrath because she kicked him out of the office. He decided to take the test.

The test had four sections, reasoning through language arts, mathematical reasoning, science and social studies. Felicity decided to start with math and science first. After the way he answered the phone, language arts might be the most difficult subject for him. She set aside three hours every day to assess Roy's knowledge on each subject and teach him the necessary concepts to pass his GED. The three hours sometimes turned into four when Thea dropped by for help with her statistics assignments. The Queens were apparently math challenged.

Despite Roy living upstairs (Thea had figured out where Roy was living and turned the upstairs part of the building into a loft for him to live in) he was always late for work. Felicity usually had to walk up the stairs and bang on his door to wake him up. Most of the time, Thea emerged from the room with Roy and she had to severely lecture the girl about keeping Roy from his responsibilities. Just because she had managed to get a semester of late classes, didn't mean she could keep Roy in bed every morning. He had his own responsibilities to fulfill.

Roy's computer skills weren't as bad as his language skills but his typing was atrocious. He typed with both index fingers and spent most of the time trying to find the letters on the keyboard. Felicity eventually wrote a typing programme for him to learn to type. Their computers were networked and she synced their phones so he would always know what her schedule was even if a meeting popped up while she was out of office. Oliver caught wind of that specific feature and wanted her to sink his phone to hers but she refused. She accepted Roy knowing her every move that was enough for the time being.

Despite his numerous short falls Roy was like a little brother to her. His sarcastic tough guy attitude covered a good heart. He was actually really great with the clients who cried their hearts out. He sat and he listened patiently to all of their problems while handing them a tissue to blow their nose. She swore she had a few clients come back with fake problems just so they could talk to Roy.

The one person Roy didn't get along with was Frank. He thought it unfair that she should be harassed by the federal government like that. He had all sorts of code names for Frank. His favourite was Coyote. Frank was the Coyote and she was the smart Road Runner that the Coyote could never catch. "Beep beep!" Roy would say into the intercom system between her office and his desk to alert her that Frank was outside and he was letting him in.

Moira and Thea had gone all out on the office. There was an open receptionist area where Roy sat behind an expensive desk. There was one chair near his desk for him to converse quietly with clients and then a row off to the side. Felicity didn't think she needed so much seating area for clients but she had been pleasantly wrong. Her certificate that allowed her to practice as a Private Detective was framed and displayed on the wall. Moira also had her MIT certificates framed and posted. The elder Queen also took various liberties in placing various works of art by local artists on the wall. Felicity rather liked the one of the small park in The Glades. It showed how much life existed in the community and it reminded her of why she did the work she did.

Besides the receptionist area, Felicity had a private office where she spoke to clients. There was a file room off to the side of the receptionist area with fire proof filing cabinets and a large fire proof safe. Oliver's input to the design of the main floor was the addition of a large kitchen area. At first Felicity had no idea why he wanted that but she soon discovered the answer.

Their close proximity to Verdant meant Oliver arrived every day for lunch and they ate as a team. They rotated between Big Belly Burger, Thai, Sushi, Chinese, Italian and Raisa's home cooking. The type of food chosen depended on who was paying. If it was Roy's turn, it was Big Belly Burger. If it was Digg, he was fond of Thai or Chinese. Felicity liked Big Belly Burger as well but when she thought her tummy was getting a little big so she switched to buying sushi for lunch. Oliver was the one that treated them to Italian and occasionally took them to the Queen's private table at Table Salt. Oliver had also started indulging her wine habit. She made one flippant comment about red wine at lunch one day and bottles of Lafite Rothschild started appearing in her office, at home, in the training area and in the base. Her mother was already on her case about knowing Oliver Queen, all the expensive wine bottles were not helping her evade her mother's questions.

Felicity slammed her fist down on her desk in frustration. Another skill Roy lacked was filing.

"Roy do you have the Schneider file on your desk?" she asked into the intercom.

"Maybe, I have a few files on my desk," came his answer.

"Look for it and please file the ones we're finished with," Felicity reminded him for the umpteenth time.

"Sure. Oliver's here with lunch. Looks like he got you that lasagna you love," he informed her. His tone hinted that there was something more to the purchase of the lasagna.

Felicity stood from her desk and exited her office. Oliver and Diggle were now coming through the second door, each with a bag of Italian food in their arms.

"Roy as soon as you find that file you can join us for lunch," Felicity instructed him.

"Blondie, you don't need to come up with excuses to have lunch with Oliver alone. You can just tell us to get lost," Roy replied with a sly smirk.

Felicity threw her hands up in the air, "I don't know what to do with you sometimes." She turned away from Roy and made a beeline to the kitchen, Oliver following behind her.

"Does that mean I eat outside with Roy?" Digg asked in a teasing tone.

"Not you too," Felicity groaned as she entered the kitchen.

"Ignore them," Oliver said as placed their bag down on the counter.

"I do," she assured him.

Felicity pulled the plates out of the cupboards and Oliver started plating the food.

"How's your day going?" he asked as they worked.

"Good," Felicity replied reaching for the glasses in a cupboard.

It was a glass of orange juice for Roy, Coke for Digg, water for Oliver and coffee for her, unless there was a bottle of wine in the bag, then Oliver would insist she could treat herself to a glass of wine with her meal.

"I might need to borrow Digg tomorrow to go to the bank," she said to him.

He nodded, "I'm glad my mother's referrals are working out."

Roy entered with Digg, "Blondie, the file is on your desk."

"Where was it?" she asked him.

"Around," was Roy's cryptic answer.

* * *

The next day she arrived at the usual time to find Roy was still sleeping in his loft upstairs. She woke both him and Thea up and sent the young Queen off to class. She was seriously thinking of charging Thea for alarm clock services. On Thea's way out, she overheard Roy telling her that if her brother got his act together and manned up then they won't have to get up early. Roy had been dropping all these little comments here and there about Oliver and the amount of time Oliver seemed to spend at Smoak Detective Agency. Felicity ignored the comments. It was Oliver's building and he did have a training area set up in the basement. A training area that looked like a giant gym with a parkour course. Felicity didn't want anything Arrow related in the basement because the likelihood was higher that the basement below her would be searched before the Verdant's basement. After all, she was the one with a serious criminal record.

Felicity had no meetings planned for the day and it looked like she would mostly be typing up reports from stakeouts she and Roy went on. Her arm was still healing and Oliver insisted that Roy had to accompany her in the field. Felicity didn't mind too much because Roy was learning the ropes and he looked like he would turn out to be a great private detective. Sometime in the afternoon, Digg was supposed to swing by to escort her to the bank.

She was halfway through a report concerning the location of a lost dog they found when she heard the sound of shattering glass from the front office. Images of Kumar attacking her with the bat flooded her mind and fear filled her veins. She instinctively reached for the taser in her draw. She heard Roy groan with pain and she picked up her phone with the other hand and sent a quick 911 to Oliver and Digg. She knew they were at Verdant receiving a shipment of alcohol for Tommy.

With her taser in her hand she approached the door. She wasn't going to wait for them. Roy's life could be on the line. She said a quick prayer to the Google Gods and then opened the door. She was not prepared for the scene in front of her. The vase of flowers that Thea insisted Roy keep on his desk, was shattered on the ground. There was a puddle of water with various rivulets flowing outwards. One was heading towards the UPS and she was mindful of the damage that would do. The flowers were under the feet of Captain Lance. He was there with two detectives, one was holding Roy down over his desk as he cuffed his hands behind his back. The other detective was reading Roy his Miranda Rights.

"What is the meaning of this?" she interrupted angrily.

Lance turned to face her while the detectives focused on Roy, he glanced at the taser in her hand before answering her question, "What does it look like we're doing? Singing Kumbaya? We are arresting your assistant."

At that moment, Oliver and Diggle burst through the door with guns drawn. The detectives and Captain Lance drew their weapons and pointed them at Oliver and Diggle.

"Is your first response always to burst into a room with guns drawn?" Lance commented dryly.

"We received a 911 from Felicity. After that last incident we weren't taking any chances," Oliver said while his eyes sought out Felicity.

"It's ok," Felicity said to Oliver. She noticed he was checking her for injuries. "It's just Captain Lance arresting Roy."

"Gee thanks Blondie. Way to make a guy feel important," Roy said sarcastically from on the desk.

"Considering the imminent shootout that could happen at any moment, being arrested doesn't seem that important at this very moment," Felicity stressed.

Oliver and Diggle both pulled their guns back and held their hands up.

"I assume you got permits for those?" Lance asked dryly. He held his hand out and indicated he wanted to see the permits.

Oliver and Diggle both reached into their wallets to pull out the permits. Captain Lance inspected them with a scowl and then with a disappointed sigh he handed it back to them.

"Queen, let me save you some time, if you're trying to be her hero," Lance said pointing at Felicity, "You have to compete with the vigilante."

"I'm sure I can give him a good run for his money," Oliver quipped. The Detectives pulled Roy up from the desk and turned him to face the door.

"Money is probably the only think you have on that guy," Lance said roughly.

"Yeah," Roy agreed with a smirk, "That guy will probably put several arrows in you."

"I still think I got a chance with the fair maiden," Oliver teased looking at Felicity quite charmingly. She had seen that look on his face when he was trying to publically impress people. "I have a bodyguard to protect me," Oliver said cocking his head in Diggle's direction.

Felicity snorted, "Digg, I think you have your hands full." As disturbing as it was to hear Oliver refer to himself as an entirely separate individual, it was also very funny.

"Guns trump arrows any day," Digg teased and Roy burst into a round of raucous laughter.

Oliver rocked back on the balls of heels with a smile that implied there was going to be plenty of trouble later, "I sure hope so."

"You might be wrong about that one Mr. Diggle. The entire police force hasn't been able to bring that guy in yet and we have plenty of guns," Lance commented.

Oliver smiled widely, "I'll take my chances."

The detectives started to force Roy towards the front door while Detective Lance remained next to Felicity.

"In case you guys forgot, I'm being taken to the police station," Roy said. The team just brushed it off. This was not the first time Roy was being arrested.

"Captain Lance, what you are charging Roy with this time?" Oliver asked casually.

"Murder," Lance replied seriously.

"Murder!" a panicked Roy exclaimed, "I didn't kill anyone." Roy started to struggle with the cuffs and Oliver moved closer to calm him down.

"Roy it will be fine. Go to the police station, don't talk to anyone. We'll get you a lawyer," Oliver instructed as the Detectives started to drag Roy away from them.

"I don't have any money for a lawyer," Roy said a little louder as he was getting closer to the door.

"CNRI represents people for free. It won't be a problem," Oliver assured him.

Felicity started to move to follow Roy but Captain Lance stopped her. He presented her with a piece of paper, "We have a warrant to search the offices of Smoak Detective Agency."

"What?" Felicity said grabbing the offending piece of paper from Detective Lance. She heard the front door click open and a series of voices drifted in from outside. When she looked up from the paper a stream of crime scene investigators started pouring into her office.

"I think you need to stay here," Oliver said to her.

She looked up at Oliver worriedly.

"It'll be alright," he reassured her his hand landing on her shoulder and squeezing it softly.

"I hope so," Felicity said as she looked out the window and watched the Detectives guide Roy to the back seat of their sedan. They shoved him roughly into the back seat and slammed the door shut. Her stomach rolled with fear as she watched the car drive away with a glum looking Roy in the back seat.

"Digg and I will head to the station. There're probably going to stall as long as possible so we'll be there a while. Meet us there when you're done here," Oliver instructed with one last squeeze of her shoulder.

Felicity nodded and turned her attention to the men that were beginning to turn her office inside out.

* * *

Felicity watched angrily as one of the crime scene investigators put Roy's computer in an evidence bag to take back to the precinct.

"Is that really necessary?" she asked.

"It is evidence mam," the one uniformed officer who was on the scene with the investigators said to her.

"Unless you think Roy picked it up and beat someone over the head with it, I can quite assure you, Roy didn't use the computer to commit any crime. He can barely type!" Felicity exclaimed.

A thin boy who didn't look old enough to be employed yet, laughed. Felicity turned her angry gaze on him.

"You find this funny!" she said angrily.

The boy swallowed nervously, "No, but when I first started I had a case where a man used a computer to beat an IT tech to death because he couldn't get a document to print."

At that point another investigator opened his bag and pulled out a cotton swab. He swabbed the sides of the computer and then sprayed a chemical on to the tip. The tip remained white.

"Seriously!" Felicity exclaimed. "Roy did not use the computer to hit anyone. If he did I would have killed him. You do not disrespect technology like that."

The investigators all turned to look at her curiously.

"Guys, it was just a joke," the boy said to them, "Get back to looking for evidence for the crime that was actually committed."

The other investigators returned to their tasks and the boy turned to Felicity, "Hi, I'm Barry Allen," he offered his gloved hand for her to shake.

Felicity stared at it, "Felicity Smoak and I think I'll pass on shaking your hand."

The boy retracted his hand with a shy smile, "Smoak as in the Smoak that runs Smoak Detective Agency?"

"Yeap that would be the one and only," she responded. She noticed he had his own CSI bag. "What are all those chemicals?" she asked peering into the bag.

"These are the reagents that allow me to look for blood, semen, other bodily fluids, gunshot residue, etc." he said. "They're basically how I do my job."

He reached down into his bag and pulled out a bottle, he sprayed Roy's chair and then used a fluorescent light that caused stains on the chair to illuminate.

Felicity heart dropped to the floor, "That's not blood is it?" she asked panicked.

Barry gave her an amused smile, "Nope, semen. You wouldn't believe some of the places we find this," he said. "Your assistant probably had a little fun with his girlfriend when you weren't here."

"I'm going to kill Roy!" she screeched and again the investigators all stopped to stare at her. "It isn't a crime until the deed is done," she spat at them.

A thought then occurred to her, "Hey check my chair," she said opening the door to her office and heading inside.

Barry and another investigator followed her into the office. She stood by the door so she could keep an eye on the ones outside and the ones in her office. While Barry walked over to her chair, the other one started inspecting her office, looking behind the painting on her wall and then opening the draws in her desk. Barry sprayed her chair and she held her breath when he passed the light over her chair.

"It's clean," he declared.

She released a breath until the second investigator made a snide comment, "Guess that means you don't have a boyfriend."

"That," she snapped, "Is none of your business!"

The investigator attempted to put his hands on her computer, "Stop! That is my computer," she said. "Roy can't use my computer."

"You can't be too sure of that," the investigator replied.

"Oh I'm positive. My computer is password protected. The password is 32 characters long. There is no way Roy's guessing that to log in. If you're done searching through my office, you can get out now," she said fiercely.

"We're just doing our job," Barry said to her. "Everyone is innocent until proven guilty."

"Well someone needs to remind Captain Lance of that. In his mind we're all guilty," Felicity said crossing her hands over her chest and staring at the CSI. Though he lacked the muscle that Oliver had, there was something quite attractive about him.

"The evidence will tell the story of what happened. It will either support his innocence or prove his guilt," Barry said confidently. The other investigator crawled under her desk with a flash light and she briefly wondered if he thought she had a dead body hidden under there somewhere.

"And what evidence have you found so far?" Felicity asked curiously. There had to be something quite compelling to convince a judge to issue a search warrant for her office.

"Unless you're a Detective, I can't share that information with you, Ms. Smoak," he replied.

"I'm a private detective, does that count?" Felicity asked hopefully.

He laughed, "Close but not quite bullseye."

Despite the morbid situation they were in, Felicity laughed hard. Barry had made an Arrow joke without knowing he was dealing with the Arrow's tech support. Felicity glanced back to the front in time to see one of the investigators wander into the file room. She heard him opening the filing cabinets. She hoped he didn't take anything out. She had a very meticulous filing system, a system Roy was still struggling to grasp.

"There's a safe in here, we need it opened," the man insisted. The uniformed officer turned to her and nodded his head in the direction of the safe.

Felicity released a frustrated sigh and stalked angrily to the file room. She asked the investigator to turn around while she entered the combination to the safe. He told her he had to watch her open the safe to ensure she didn't remove any evidence from the safe and she tried to use her body to block the keypad instead. She quickly punched in the number and then turned the handle to open the safe.

"See nothing criminal," Felicity said looking into the safe to see the cash she had put in the night before when one of Moira's referrals paid her for work done.

"I'm afraid we will have to take the cash as evidence," the investigator said.

"Excuse me?" Felicity screeched. "That's my hard earned money."

"There seems to be over 10K there. Any suspicious amounts of cash are confiscated as it could be an indicator of criminal activity."

Felicity had the sudden urge to pick up Oliver's bow and shoot the investigator in the foot with an arrow! She watched helplessly as he bagged the cash. If a single dollar went missing she was going to sue the department. She returned to the front to find Barry in the kitchen looking at the cleaning agents under the kitchen sink.

"You have a half full bottle of bleach," he pointed out.

"Yes we use it to clean. I like things clean, particularly the bathroom which I share with three men," Felicity said.

"I thought Roy was your only employee?" Barry asked with a furrow of his eyebrows.

"He is but Oliver and Diggle tend to eat lunch here a lot," Felicity admitted.

"Who are Oliver and Diggle?" Barry further questioned.

"Oliver Queen and his bodyguard John Diggle. Oliver is my landlord," Felicity explained.

Barry scribbled that piece of information on a piece of paper.

"There is a locked door in the back. We need to get it open," the uniformed officer told her.

She turned to look at him with a false smile on her face, "The area behind that door is not part of Smoak Detective Agency," she responded waving the warrant in her hand, "You will need another warrant to enter it." She was not going to tell them that that was the door that lead up to Roy's loft and down into their training area.

"If you are obstructing this investigation," the officer started to threaten.

"I'm sure she's telling the truth," Barry said intervening. "I think we've got everything we need so far. We can ask the judge to widen the warrant to the entire building if the need arises."

* * *

After the last of the CSI left, Felicity locked up the office, jumped in her car and headed to the police station. She found Diggle and Oliver sitting quietly on the plain benches in the waiting area.

"How is he?" Felicity asked. "Do we know who they think he killed?"

"Don't know, they are taking forever to book him," Diggle explained moving further down the bench away from Oliver.

Felicity joined them on the bench sitting between Oliver and Diggle. No one was giving them any information and it frustrated Felicity. If they made her wait any longer she was going to hack their system and view the case file herself. She was on the verge of pulling out her tablet when a gorgeous brunette entered the reception area. She recognised her instantly as Laurel Lance, the lawyer that ran CNRI and worked tirelessly to ensure the rights of the poor in the city were respected. If she remembered correctly, she was also Oliver's ex, the one everyone said he would marry.

Oliver stood from his seat next to her and the lawyer walked over and greeted Oliver with a kiss to the cheek. Felicity shifted uncomfortably on her seat. The site of Oliver and Laurel together unsettled her. The woman was even more beautiful than she looked on the TV screen. From the interaction between the two she could tell Oliver was still very close to her.

"I know you wanted me here earlier Ollie but I was in court on another case. I came as soon as I could," Laurel said. She was still standing in Oliver's personal space and he made no effort to move away from her.

"I understand," Oliver said softly.

A girl Felicity recognised as a bartender at Verdant arrived and she too made a beeline for Oliver. News of Roy's arrest seemed to spread fast. She was shorter than Laurel with dirty blonde hair but just as beautiful. Felicity wasn't surprised that beautiful women were drawn to Oliver. He had that magnetism that drew women to him in droves.

"What did Roy do this time?" the blonde asked exasperated.

"According to your father, murder," Oliver answered.

Felicity concluded that the mystery blonde had to be Laurel's younger sister Sara Lance. The same Lance girl that caused the end of Laurel's fairy tale romance with Oliver. She remembered Moira's list of Oliver's close friends had both Lance girls on it but Felicity had found that very hard to believe considering the love triangle they were entangled in but the proof was right in front of her. Both the Lance girls were still very much a part of Oliver's life.

Sara's face scrunched in confusion, "Roy didn't kill anyone. Who does Dad think he killed?"

"He wouldn't tell us anything," Oliver explained.

Sara pursed her lips, "We'll see about that." She charged forward into the bullpen.

"Sara," Oliver called after her in a warning tone but the blonde just shrugged him off.

Felicity watched the blonde walk over to an office labelled Captain Lance and enter the office, closing the door behind her. Five minutes later, Sara exited the office and walked back through the bullpen towards them. Felicity was surprised that no one stopped her or even lifted a head to look at her.

"Before you say a word, was dad in his office?" Laurel asked.

Sara looked away guiltily.

"Then I'm not listening to any of this. I'll go and find out if they're ready for me yet," Laurel said walking away towards a desk where an officer was located.

"What did you find out Sara?" Diggle asked standing to join them. Felicity remained seated on the bench. She could hear everything perfectly fine where she was.

"He's being charged with the murder of Cecil Adams," Sara explained.

Oliver and Diggle just nodded their heads showing no reaction at all. Felicity knew that name though. That was the drug dealer that Roy had approached to gain information about Tobias Church. He was also the one he beat up the night that Thea had been kidnapped. In all likelihood Church had probably set this whole thing up to frame Roy and try and draw the Arrow out again.

"Were you able to find out when the murder occurred?" Diggle asked calmly.

"The body was discovered five days ago in the bay area," Sara revealed.

"The body that washed up bore marks of violence. I think they said six gunshot wounds," Felicity quoted from memory.

At Oliver's curious look, Felicity exclaimed, "I read the local newspaper. Maybe you should try it sometime," she challenged him.

"He wasn't too good at reading comprehension in school," Laurel quipped as she re-joined their group.

"Really, was it as bad as his math?" Felicity questioned lightly.

"Worse," Laurel replied with a teasing smile.

Felicity, Sara and Laurel burst into a fit of laughter. Diggle was making a strange choking sound as he tried to disguise his laughter but he eventually gave up and laughed out right, even bending over to try to catch his breath.

Oliver turned to Diggle with the most betrayed look on his face, "Et tu Diggle?"

Felicity gasped, "Julius Caesar! Are you trying to prove us wrong by quoting Shakespeare?"

Laurel snorted, "Ollie didn't study Shakespeare in any of the six colleges he attended."

Oliver looked helplessly between Felicity and Laurel as they discussed him.

Felicity eyebrows furrowed together, "But he just quoted Julius Caesar."

Laurel looked at Oliver fondly, "In our final year of high school, Tommy joined the drama club because Ollie bet him he couldn't sleep with all the girls in the club. The school play that year was Julius Caesar and Tommy made sure to get the leading role. For months, Tommy repeated that famous line over and over trying to get the betrayal perfect. If I remember correctly, when I couldn't take it anymore, I poured my juice all over him in the cafeteria."

"I remember the great juice incident," Oliver said with an amused twinkle in his eye. "There are pictures in the year book. I need to remind Tommy about that."

Laurel's face sobered. "They are almost finished booking Roy. I should be going in soon for the questioning."

Oliver placed his hand on Laurel's upper arm, "CNRI can expect a very generous donation from the Queen family this year."

"Ms. Lance," an officer called, "We're ready."

Laurel nodded and turned to Oliver, "Ollie go home. There is nothing you can do now. I have a feeling this is going to take a long time. I'll call you when we're done."

"Ok. I'll be posting bail for Roy as soon as you can get him before a judge," Oliver said.

Laurel nodded before she left.

Sara sighed, "Who's telling Thea her boyfriend is in jail?"

The silence from Oliver was deafening.

"Seriously Oliver, you're not going to tell her," Felicity asked in disbelief.

"She doesn't need this right now," Oliver answered.

Felicity slapped her hand against her head, "Men!" she exclaimed.

"Ollie," Sara said, "If you keep this from Thea, she will kick your ass."

"Never mind, I'll call her. He was arrested in my office," Felicity answered pulling out her cell phone.

The fact that she had Thea's personal cell phone number was a testament to how much she saw the young brunette. Thea answered on the first ring.

"What's wrong?" Thea answered in a soft voice which Felicity knew meant she was in the middle of a class.

"Can you get out of class or should I call you back when class is over?" Felicity asked. While Oliver frowned at her. Felicity threw a glare back at Oliver and Diggle wisely stepped away from them. Sara however smirked at the interaction.

"I'll get out. You never call me so this must be an emergency," Thea said.

She could heard the sounds of Thea gathering her stuff and then a few seconds later a change in background sounds.

"I'm out, spill," Thea ordered. The tone reminded her a bit of Moira.

"Roy's been arrested. We are at the police station," Felicity explained.

"What when this did happen?" Thea asked in a panicked voice.

Felicity glanced at the clock on the wall, "About four hours ago."

"And I'm now hearing about this?" Thea asked her voice laced with anger.

"Yeah we were busy trying to find out what was going on," Felicity said lamely. "They had a search warrant for my office and I had to stay and make sure they didn't do anything stupid like plant evidence. Oliver and Digg came to the station immediately."

"Wait why was Oliver even called before me?" Thea asked. "Roy is _**my**_ boyfriend."

"Oh I thought there was a burglar so I called Oliver for help. Turned out the burglar was the police arresting Roy," Felicity explained.

Oliver held out his hand asking for the phone and Felicity shook her head no. He shook his head yes and they stood their staring at each other in the middle of the police station arguing with their eyes over the phone.

"Felicity I'll be there in an hour," Thea said.

"Ok, bye," Felicity said hanging up the phone. "Your sister will be here in an hour."

"She should be in school," Oliver said angrily.

"Yeah you can fight that battle with Thea when she arrives," Felicity said walking away. She had some searches to conduct back at the base.

* * *

The first thing Felicity did was hack the SCPD system to see what they had on Roy. She pulled up the case file for Cecil Adams and looked at the evidence listed. There was a report from the coroner, a missing person's report made by his mother, statements from his 'friends' which Felicity realised were probably Church's men and a video labelled murder.

She opened the video.

In the middle of the screen there were two figures fighting. She recognised one as Roy and she concluded the other must be Adams. Roy was clearly winning the fight and Adams drew a handgun and pointed it at Roy. Roy knocked it out of his hands and kicked Adams sending him out of the camera's field of vision. Roy then picked up the gun and emptied the cartridge in the direction that he had kicked Adams.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	10. Barry Allen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. I know this chapter is very late and I'm very sorry but the good news is I got a beta! missmeagan666 at Ao3. Thank you for fixing my errors Meagan.

Felicity looked at the video at least twenty times before she heard Oliver and Diggle enter the lair. She turned in her chair to face them immediately.

"We need to speak to Roy urgently," she stated gravely.

Neither man seemed to pay much attention to her tone as they both casually walked up to her. Diggle stopped in his usual place, about three feet to the right and a little behind while Oliver came right up next to her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Laurel got a bail hearing in the morning. She'll move to petition the court to dismiss the charges," Oliver informed her confidently.

Felicity shook her head, "It won't be so easy. We have a serious problem." She turned back to the screen and pressed play. At the part where Roy picked up the gun and fired she heard Oliver inhale sharply next to her.

"I think I'll have to swing by the mansion to get some cash for bail," Oliver admitted grimly.

"With Roy's record we would be lucky if he gets bail!" Felicity said throwing her hands up in frustration. "Play the video again," Diggle asked taking a step closer to her.

"Sure, it's kind of addictive. I keep watching it over and over again," she confessed as she pressed play. Both men leaned forward to look closely at the screen.

"Could the video be altered?" Digg asked.

"I'm writing a few programmes to carefully examine the video pixel by pixel. I'm hoping it will find some sort of irregularity but it will take some time. If we could talk to Roy and get his side of the story it will certainly help things along," Felicity explained.

"Is there anymore to the video after Roy fires the gun?" Oliver asked.

"No there isn't. I thought that strange as well. If Adams was killed there, how did Roy, who has no car or form of transport, get a body from there to the bay? You would think they would have that on video as well, but I'm not finding it anywhere on the police servers," Felicity explained.

Oliver moved his hand to the keyboard and ran the video again. "I would bet their at the park on 52nd street. That's where Adam's is known for dealing drugs. The city installed cameras to keep an eye on drug dealing. You can start with that system and see if you pull up anything. I'm going to head home and get Thea a change of clothes. She's insisting on staying at the police station until we get Roy out."

Felicity nodded in understanding. Staying at the police station all night was a very Thea thing to do.

"Oliver, I think I'll stay here and study the video a bit more," Diggle said.

Felicity copied the video to another station for Diggle to work on while she ran her programmes. It was going to be a very long night.

* * *

As soon as she arrived home, after working all night on the video and coming up with nothing, Detective Hilton called asking her to come down to the police station to answer some routine questions. Her first thought was to say no. Being in an interrogation room twice in a short space of time was one time too many for her liking but she knew if she said no it would make them look at Roy even harder. She needed to go and answer their questions and do her best to dissuade them from the notion that Roy was their only suspect.

On the way in she saw Thea, Oliver and a black brief case next to Oliver on the bench in front. Roy had the first appointment before the judge and they would know his fate in an hour. A young police officer approached her and she was escorted to interrogation room 2 where Detective Hilton was already seated with a folder in front of him.

"Ms. Smoak, please have a seat," Detective Hilton said pointing to the chair opposite him.

She followed his instructions and sat on the chair. She folded her hands neatly in front of her and stared at the Detective waiting for him to start the conversation.

"Ms. Smoak where were you between the hours of 1:00am and 3:00am on the 22nd?" he said getting straight to the point.

"I'll have to check my files," she answered. She was determined not to give them any information. She wasn't supposed to know anything about their case.

"You don't remember where you were last week Tuesday?" the Detective asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I keep meticulous files of the hours I work on each case so I don't have to remember where I was. When you work through the nights frequently, the days kind of blend together. Just last month I thought it was Tuesday when it was actually Friday," Felicity answered.

She glanced at the two-way mirror on the wall and she wondered who was behind it.

"Aren't you supposed to be some kind of genius?" he asked. "You're supposed to remember."

She looked back at the Detective with a wry smile, "A genius yes but I don't have a photographic memory. I cannot tell you what I was doing precisely at this time yesterday much less a week ago,"

"Ms. Smoak if you are purposefully withholding information…" Detective Hilton started to threaten her.

"What information? No one has bothered to tell us anything. How on Earth could I be withholding information if I don't know what I should be withholding? Not that I have intentions of withholding information. It's just to withhold you have to already know what you want and since I clearly don't know what you want, I can't withhold." Felicity babbled.

"I want to know where you were between the hours of 1:00am and 3:00am on the 22nd?" Hilton repeated sternly.

"And I as I previously indicated, I need to check my files." Felicity replied obstinately. "I could have been on a case or I could have been sleeping. I'm not sure and I don't want to give you an incorrect answer because that could lead to so much more trouble."

"How do I know that you won't change your files the minute you leave here? What's to stop you from doing that?" the Detective asked.

"That would be tampering with a police investigation and I can assure you that I am a law abiding citizen," Felicity replied smartly.

"And what do you call hacking?" the Detective asked.

"A hobby," Felicity responded automatically before realising she needed to add a caveat to that, "A hobby that I cannot participate in because I would be in violation of my FBI deal."

"Tell me about that?" Hilton asked. Felicity smiled, "I'm not allowed to speak about that but I can refer you to Frank." "Who's Frank, your lawyer?"

"No, he's my FBI ball and chain. He'll be more than happy to talk to you. I can give you his cell phone number. You can call him right now." Felicity insisted.

"I have never seen someone so eager to give us the cell phone number to their monitor." Detective Hilton quipped.

"As I said, I'm a law abiding citizen," she said with a wide smile. She really wanted them to call Frank now. The man liked to sleep in on mornings and it would be a great change of pace for someone to be interrupting his day.

"Let's talk about the cash that was found in your safe," Detective Hilton said moving the conversation away from her whereabouts. Felicity sat up straighter, "Yes let's talk about it. When will I be getting it back? I have bills to pay!" Felicity said earnestly.

"What bills? The building is owned by your boyfriend and our sources tell us he pays for everything." "What boyfriend? I do not have a boyfriend," Felicity replied. "Are we back to people laughing at me because I don't have a boyfriend?"

"Oliver Queen is not your boyfriend?" Hilton asked.

Felicity sighed, "Oliver Queen is a very close friend, one could even call him my best friend but he is not my boyfriend. There is nothing romantic going on between Oliver and I," Felicity said tonelessly to the Detective. She was beginning to feel like a broken record with the amount of people that kept trying to imply that something was going on between her and Oliver.

If Oliver wanted to make a move he would have made a move already. "It certainly doesn't seem that way. He lets you operate your business in his building rent free," Detective Hilton said flipping open the folder in front of him. "I am not there rent free," Felicity protested.

"Really? Because according to the rent control board Oliver Queen listed the rent you pay as $0 dollars," Hilton said picking up the first piece of paper on top the folder and sliding it across the table to her.

Felicity picked it up and scanned the document quickly before setting it back on the table and pushing it across to the Detective. "I don't see how this is relevant to Roy's case?"

"The cash we found…" the Detective started but Felicity chose to cut him off because she really didn't want to hear what terrible assumptions they had made about the cash.

"Isn't relevant to the case. I have a few wealthy clients. They like to pay in cash. Their generous payments allow me to work pro-bono for some clients who would not be able to afford my services," Felicity said fiercely.

"There's something called a bank to deposit the money in," the Detective pointed out. "Most people usually use it unless they are money laundering."

"I use the bank but I don't like travelling with that amount of cash on me. I usually wait until Mr. Diggle has some spare time to go to the bank with me. I can give you the name of my accountant. He does all the paperwork, balances my books and pays my taxes. Everything is above board. There is no money laundering going on!"

"So you say but there are plenty of creative accountants in Starling City," the Detective countered her. Felicity felt like hitting the desk in frustration. He wasn't listening to her. He was so dead set that she and Roy were criminals that he was looking for anything to prove his case.

"So you're saying I can't get my cash back?"

"As soon as the investigation is concluded, provided the funds were not used in criminal activity, they will be returned to you," the Detective said tonelessly. She was fairly sure this isn't the first time he's had to tell suspects that.

"Is there anything else I can help you with Detective?" she asked angrily.

"That will be all. An officer will accompany back to your office when you review your files," he said.

Felicity resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Ok."

She stood and left the room heading straight to her car. When she arrived at her office there were two officers waiting for her. She opened the door and they followed her all the way to her office where she booted up her computer. The officers watched as she pulled up her files for September 22nd.

"You can tell Detective Hilton that we were not working on any active case and that I must have been home sleeping," Felicity responded.

As the officers left her phone beeped with a text from Thea. Roy was granted bail at $1,000000 and Oliver was in the process of posting it. They expected to arrive at Verdant within the hour.

Felicity locked up her office and went to the lair.

* * *

Felicity heard the door to the lair open followed by the sound of several footsteps on the stairs. She swivelled her chair around to face her boys coming down the staircase.

"Roy you have some explaining to do," Felicity said crossing her arms over her chest. She noted that Roy was still in the same clothes from the day before and his eyes were tinged red from lack of sleep.

"I didn't do it," Roy replied immediately his hands up in the air, palms facing her.

"We believe you," Felicity assured him, "But we need to hear your side of the story."

Roy, Oliver and Diggle came to a stop just in front of her.

"It happened the night that we took off," Roy started.

Felicity nodded remembering the night. Digg had a date with Lyla. Oliver had been nice about giving them the night off right up until he asked her for a favour.

"Thea and I had a fight about a guy in her class that she's been having study sessions with," Roy said starting to pace the floor.

"Wait, what guy?" Oliver asked with a crease between his eyebrows. Felicity turned to look at the tall vigilante, "Not relevant to this particular conversation Oliver," before she turned back to Roy and encouraged him to continue relaying his version of events.

"Thea left and I just needed to get out and do something so I grabbed my hoodie and walked around a few blocks," Roy explained.

"That something being beating up drug dealers?" Felicity queried.

"No, I didn't go out with the intention of beating Adams up," Roy defended.

The three of them gave him a look, "Ok maybe I wanted a fight but I didn't target him specifically."

"You just ended up in a park that he's known to sell drugs in?" Digg asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, you sound like you think I'm guilty," Roy said offended. "Adam wasn't my first fight of the night and none of the other guys are dead."

"What do you mean wasn't your first fight of the night?" Oliver asked.

"I didn't train you to go around beating up people." Roy gave Oliver a sheepish look, "I think I may have gotten into four fights before that one." Oliver looked like he was ready to kill Roy so Felicity decided to keep the conversation moving, "Did you tell Detective Hilton that?"

"No, I told him I was using the park as a shortcut and Adams jumped me. He started saying all these rude things about Thea and I got angry. We fought and I can't remember much just the anger," Roy said stopping to face Felicity.

"Do you remember shooting him?" she asked.

"No, I didn't shoot him," Roy responded confidently.

"You sure?" Diggle asked.

"Of course I'm sure. If I shot someone I would think that I would remember that," Roy replied snidely.

"Did you see the video?" Felicity asked.

"What video?" Roy asked confused. Felicity turned to her computer screens and put the video to play. A string of curse words left Roy's mouth.

"Leave something out?" Felicity asked.

"I don't remember picking up that gun," Roy said panicked. "All I really remember is the shit he was saying about Thea. Oh crap! I told the Detective that I never touched a gun!"

"The video could be fake," Diggle pointed out. Roy stopped and stared at the video. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "I don't know. I was so angry. Maybe I did pick up a gun. I don't know but I am positive he was alive when I left."

"Roy we need to know exactly what happened. The more details the easier it will be to clear you," Felicity stressed.

"I can't remember ok," he screamed. Oliver placed his hand gently on his shoulder, "Roy," his voice was calm because he needed Roy to remain calm, "I know a meditation technique that might help you remember what happened that night. It helped me sort through a lot of emotions after the incident."

"Meditation?" Roy said it as if it was some foreign human sacrifice ritual Oliver wanted him to perform.

"I am 100% positive that it will help you remember that night as well as help you work through some of these anger issues you seem to be having," Oliver stated calmly.

"I'm not the meditation type," Roy said with a frown.

"Roy," Digg started in his wise Yoda voice. "If there is a chance it could help you, you need to try it."

"I agree. Its' better than 20+ years in prison," Felicity said chiming in with her opinion.

* * *

Felicity left Roy and Oliver trying to meditate and returned to her office. She found Detective Hilton, two officers and Barry waiting for her. Didn't she just talk to the Detective two hours ago?

"Detective, I think this is bordering on harassment now?" Felicity said as she walked up to her door.

"We should charge you with obstructing justice," he said angrily as he slapped two search warrants into her hands.

"When did I obstruct justice?" Felicity asked opening up the warrant to read the first one.

"Our CSI's asked to search two closed doors and you refused, one of them we understand is the abode of Roy Harper, the suspect in our investigation," Hilton explained angrily.

"Your CSI's asked to search areas not covered by your search warrant. I am not the landlord of the building. I cannot let you into areas that are not under my purview," Felicity countered.

The first search warrant was for the entire building and the second was to impound and search her car. She realised they thought she used her car to help Roy move the body from the park to the bay area. They were going to have to revise that particular hypothesis when her car came up clean.

"One minute please Detective, I'll need to call my landlord because I still can't let you into those areas as I don't have access," she said with a sickly sweet smile.

She turned around, pulled out her phone and called Oliver.

"Hey," he answered, "What's wrong?"

"Detective Hilton is here with a search warrant for the entire building," she explained.

"Ok, I'm coming across now." She ended the call and invited them to wait in her reception area.

On the way inside, Barry apologised for Hilton's attitude and they struck up a conversation about the best places to get coffee in the city. Once Oliver arrived he took them up to Roy's loft and the training area below which Diggle had given a facelift to look like a private gym for Oliver since they knew at some point the police was going to return.

On the 12 o'clock news it was reported that the boyfriend of Thea Queen, Roy Harper, was arrested for murder. Her work phone started ringing immediately with past clients calling to find out if Roy was ok and if there was anything they could do to help. On top of these calls Felicity had two crying clients that had yet to communicate what they wanted.

When a frustrated Roy, who was fed up of trying to meditate, appeared in the office begging for work, she pointed straight to the crying ladies. Ten minutes later, she discovered one had lost a pet and the other's daughter had run away with her drug dealer boyfriend. How could the police think that a man who could show such compassion for a crying woman was capable of murder was beyond her?

* * *

Felicity slammed her hands down in front of the keyboard in frustration.

Every programme she ran to determine if the video was fake had produced the unwanted result of verifying the authenticity of the video. Each time the programmes found no sign of alteration Felicity came closer and closer to accepting that the video was accurate.

When she had pulled up the park security system and found that no other camera had captured what had happened she automatically assumed that the video the police had was fake.

It was time to throw out that assumption and form a new plan.

If the video was real, then she should use the video to prove Roy's innocence. Adams is off screen when the gun is fired in his general direction but he could be close enough that if there was any blood splatter from the wounds, it might be caught on camera. She wrote several programmes to enhance that side of the video to search for any blood splatter.

After a day of searching, she came up empty.

Her car had been returned at this point and all of the Queen's cars had been impounded. From what she heard from Oliver, his father was not very happy that the police thought his children were involved in a murder. He was threatening to sue the department.

Having no luck with the video, Felicity decided to read the coroner's report on the body.

Roy had done a great job beating up Adams. He had two broken ribs, a broken radius, a broken tibia and bruises littered across his body. The part of the report that set off Felicity's alarm bells was that the coroner pulled six bullets out of Adams. Felicity turned back to the video quickly and counted the muzzle flashes on the gun. She came up with five! She then wrote a programme to slow down the video as much as possible to confirm that only five bullets left the gun.

The quality of the video was very poor and she wasn't have much luck with that.

She decided that she didn't want to talk to Detective Hilton or Captain Lance directly and decided to call Gorgeous Laurel and relay the information to her. As his attorney she should be able to use the information to Roy's benefit. Laurel thanked her for the information and Felicity swear she heard Oliver mumbling in the background.

She glanced at the clock and it was 8:00pm at night. Were they on a date or something?

* * *

The next day, she heard from Diggle that the police were saying that Roy could have fired the sixth bullet at a later time not caught on video. The gun had not be recovered and according to the video Roy had thrown it in the direction of Adams and walked away.

Conveniently, two days later, an anonymous source delivered the gun to the police station. Of course Roy's prints were all over it and the ballistic results matched the bullets from Adam's body to the gun. That confirmed for Felicity that Roy was being set up by someone, probably Church.

Roy's meditation was beginning to work and he was able to recall more and more details from the night. Felicity asked him to focus on how many times he fired the gun and he was able to confirm he only fired it five times. He also remembered that he was not aiming at Adams.

He aimed at a large tree that was just over Adam's shoulder to the right.

Felicity asked Oliver and Digg to locate the tree.

They located the tree but Felicity stopped them from relaying the information to Laurel.

She wanted more proof since she was sure Detective Hilton would say that maybe Adam's had fired his gun at the tree for target practice. Roy was positive he walked away and didn't return so Felicity turned her search to finding where Adam's was killed and how he reached from the murder location to the bay area. Once she developed a suitable counter-theory to the police she had to come up with a way to get the police to listen.

"I'll have to talk to Barry," Felicity mused out loud.

"Barry? Who's Barry?" Oliver asked. He had been hanging around the back attacking the one wing chun dummy that remained in the lair.

"Oh he's a Central City CSI on a six month training course here. He's really nice and I think he will listen to what I have to say," Felicity explained.

"Barry," Oliver repeated with utter disdain. "I'll come with you."

* * *

Felicity walked into the newly opened Starling City Jitters coffee house with Oliver.

The strong smell of coffee assaulted her nose and she inhaled deeply. Barry might have been right about the Jitters brand but she would reserve her opinion until she tried a cup.

Like every new store that opens in the city, it was extremely crowded. Everyone wanted to try the famous coffee that Jitters served. She hoped most people were taking coffee to go because she needed a table today.

"I think I'll place our order while you try and get us a table. Is Bart here yet?" Oliver asked.

Felicity rolled her eyes, "It's Barry, you know like Barry Manilow."

"Just get us a table," Oliver instructed before striding towards the cashier. Halfway there he paused and then came back towards her. "On second thought, I'll get us the table, you get us the coffee."

Felicity looked passed Oliver, up the long line of customers, to the counter where a young blonde girl was working. Felicity recognised her instantly. She works or maybe used to work for the coffee shop that they visited regularly.

She had a very bad habit of flirting with Oliver and trying to feel up his forearm. Oliver always tried to politely extract his arm from the girl so as not to hurt her feelings. Eventually he just started avoiding the place all together and always sent Diggle to get his coffee.

"Is the big mighty Oliver Queen afraid of a girl half his size?" Felicity teased.

Oliver snorted, "The only girl I'm afraid of is you when you use your loud voice. I would rather not spend the next ten minutes trying to place an order for one coffee with low fat milk and extra sugar for you and one black for me."

Felicity sighed while shaking her head from side to side, her blonde ponytail swinging behind her, "The sacrifices I make for you Queen!" An amused smile spread across Oliver's handsome face. He walked off to get them a table and Felicity joined the long line.

While in the line she looked around from Barry but she didn't see him. He must have gotten held up at the station. Oliver somehow managed to get them a table in the corner that gave him a great view of the door and her in the line.

As she reached the cashier the girl frowned, "Where's Oliver?" Felicity arched an eyebrow at the question and then gave her order as the cashier looked around the room for Oliver.

When she spotted him at a table, a large smile drew across her face. "Since you're regulars we'll deliver the coffee straight to your table," she declared as she took Felicity's money.

"I bet you will," Felicity said dryly obtaining her change and her bill before walking away from the counter. How you could be a regular when the place only opened up two days ago was a mystery to her? She sat in the chair opposite Oliver.

"Where are our coffees?" he asked confused.

"They're delivering them to the table," Felicity explained.

"Felicity, the point of you going to the cashier was so that I wouldn't have to interact with her!" Oliver said tersely. Felicity cocked her head to the side, "When we first met you never had a problem with women fawning over you.

Ever since the Hannah incident you've sort of pulled away from female attention."

"No I've pulled away from the women that wish to use me. I'm no longer interested in maintaining my previous image," he stated. He folded his arms across his chest, an action that drew Felicity's eyes to his bulging biceps.

"So you're going for celibate priest now?" Felicity teased. He cocked his head to the side in exasperation, "No I'm just being pickier. I want a certain type of woman now."

"So leggy and brunette is out?" Felicity asked knowing full well that leggy and brunette would describe Laurel to a tee. "Felicity, when I decide what I want, I guarantee you'll be the first person to know!"

She spotted Barry coming in through the door, "Barry!" she called out loudly waving her hand in the air to try and attract his attention. "Felicity!" he said his whole face lighting up.

He rushed over and took the seat next to her. "Sorry I was late. I was working on a case and I lost track of time." "Do your parents know you're here?" Oliver interrupted rudely. He was staring intently at Barry sizing him up.

"Oliver!" said horrified. She turned quickly to Barry, "I'm sorry. Oliver doesn't play well with others. I called you here today to anonymously give you a few leads on the Harper case."

"You should speak directly to the Detectives in charge." Barry indicated.

"I would but they are not listening to the story the evidence is telling. Adams was shot with 6 bullets but the video shows Roy firing 5 shots. Roy is seen leaving the crime scene and tossing the gun aside. There is no video showing how Adams got out of the park.

If you go back to the scene of the assault, there's a tree with five bullets in it, which is what Roy was aiming at. We found a route through the park that avoids all the cameras but there is no way Roy could have followed that route and carried a dead body. That leads you to conclude that Adams walked out of that park alive.

There's an official police report from residents living a block away from Adams residence that reported hearing six gunshots later that night, followed by a white van stuffing a body into it. Cameras in the city show the van heading towards the bay area then returning ten minutes later.

We believe that will confirm Roy's innocence. The evidence tells a different story but the Detectives are deadest in their thinking. They refuse to read the actual story," Felicity said sliding a folder that detailed all of their evidence over to him.

Laurel also had a copy of the folder.

At this point the blonde cashier appeared with one coffee in her hand which was obviously the black coffee for Oliver. Before the woman could say two words to Oliver Felicity pulled her bill out and demanded that she get her coffee or she would go straight to the manager and have her fired for harassing the handsome customers. The blonde skittered away quickly.

Barry sighed, "I became a CSI because my father was accused of killing my mother. I was waiting for him to come home the night she died. My bedroom window had a view of the street and I could see when my dad car's turned the corner to come home.

As soon as he did, I called out to my mom that dad was home. There were some strange sounds like a fight and then a vase dropped and my mom shouted for me to call 911 immediately.

I ran down to my parents' bedroom and called 911.

I heard my mother cry out in pain, followed by the back door being slammed shut. I was still on the phone with the operator when I dropped the phone and ran downstairs to my mother. I was on the stairs when I saw my father run passed the base of the stairs towards her.

My father is a doctor so he tried to save her. He tried to stop the bleeding. He told me to call 911. There was a bloody knife near my mother and my father moved it out of my sight. In hindsight that was a bad idea because that put his prints on the murder weapon and permanently sealed his guilt in the investigator's minds."

"But you heard an intruder?" Felicity said.

"Nobody believed me. They said I was confusing events.

When I called 911 I told the operator that my mother told me to call 911 and that my father was home. They brought in expert child psychologists to say that I had turned around the events in my head and made up the intruder so that my dad was innocent. They said I couldn't face the reality so I invented a sort of fairy tale where my dad was innocent.

My dad was convicted and went to jail but I firmly believed he was innocent."

"I'm sorry Barry. Is he still in jail?" Felicity asked squeezing his hand to offer him support.

"My foster dad was a cop. When I was fifteen I convinced him to give me access to my father's case. Based on the evidence collected and some additional work on my part I was able to prove my father was innocent and he was released from jail a few years ago so I understand all too well when you say the police aren't following the evidence properly."

"Who was the real killer?" Oliver asked curiously.

"It was a man my mother worked with Dr. Eobard Thawne. There was evidence he was stalking her. My mother never told my father about her concerns and the police never released the information to my father's attorney.

A search of Eobard Thawne's apartment revealed a secret room where he had several trophies from women who he had killed. My mother always wore a crystal pendant around her neck. It belonged to her grandmother and she never took it off. The only way he could have gotten it is if he was there that night."

"They arrested him?" Oliver asked.

From the frown on his face Felicity knew his Arrow sense of justice was kicking in.

"He ran and they still haven't found him," Barry said with a sigh.

"I heard a rumour he was in Starling City. There was a six month exchange programme between Starling City PD and Central City PD. I applied to be able to look for Thawne."

"Any luck yet?" Felicity asked. "I tracked him to a motel just outside of town," he revealed his eyes downcast looking at the table. Felicity nodded her head. She knew that motel well. It was the preferred choice of cheating husbands.

"But I lost the trail. I'm not sure if he moved or if he's still in the city hiding somewhere else.

Everywhere I go I look around for his face," Barry admitted. He lifted his gaze away from the table and look directly at Felicity, "I'll review what you've compiled and see where the evidence takes me. I promise I won't let the assumption of guilt cloud my judgement."

Felicity gave him a brilliant smile, "That's all I ask."

* * *

Felicity hated waiting for news. She knew Barry was a good guy and she trusted that when he said he would follow the evidence provided, that he would do just that but that had been three days ago and she was going insane. She had no more nails to chew on, if she chewed any further she would draw blood. Repeated checks of the SCPD system showed no update on the case and the update from Laurel yesterday was the case was still being investigated.

To keep busy Felicity was running a facial recognition programme to look for Eobard Thawne on all of the cameras in Starling City. It was a very big task and equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack. The CCPD picture of Eobard Thawne had been awful so she hacked into one of the placed Thawne had worked and pulled his photo off of his ID badge. It was a much better photo and one the police should have used.

"Hey." Felicity jumped in the air. "Oliver! How many times do I have to tell you not to use your Arrow skills on me!" He chuckled, "I have some good news that I know you've been waiting to hear." Felicity sprung to her feet immediately, "They're dropping the charges against Roy?"

"Yes! They're charging one of Church's lieutenants with the murder instead," he revealed before he had an armful of blonde jumping up and down in his arms excitedly.

* * *

Felicity was seated at the bar at Verdant waiting for Thea to arrive with Roy for the surprise party she was throwing her boyfriend. As soon as Thea got the good news about the charges against Roy she went immediately into party planning mode. Tasks were handed out to everyone.

Felicity and Moira were in charge of decorating, Tommy was in charge of the bar, Oliver catering and Diggle was given the task of inviting everyone, including Felicity's clients that had called to express concern about Roy.

Tommy was forced to close the club for the night so Thea could throw her private party for Roy. In an effort to distract her boyfriend she took him on a celebratory shopping trip that, from the texts she saw on the guys' phones Roy was not enjoying at all.

Tommy made the careless quip of saying jail was preferred to shopping trips. Of course Tommy's latest fling laughed at the joke and tried to cosy up to Oliver. It seemed like she was trying for a threesome with the two guys.

That definitely wasn't happening. Oliver preferred his threesome with two women.

She spotted Digg in a corner with Lyla and she made her way over to say hi. She discovered that Lyla was back at work after fully recovering from her injuries. They struck up a curious conversation about her FBI arrest and the deal she made when Roy finally arrived with Thea.

Everyone screamed surprise but Roy seemed more interested in getting a drink from the bar as soon as he could. Felicity spent most of the night moving slowly around the room observing everyone. Sara had come with an exotic brunette that she learned was her girlfriend.

Also previous discomfort she had felt about Sara and Sara's friendship with Oliver had miraculously disappeared. She caught sight of Oliver trying to slip out early through the back exit and she headed him off. "Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have something to do. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Lunch at Table Salt on me," he said softly before quickly side stepping her and exiting. Felicity thought he was being anti-social until she noticed Laurel slip out the front a few minutes later. Her mind couldn't help but come to the conclusion that she was meeting Oliver somewhere for some sexy times.

* * *

The next day she received a text from Barry asking for her and Oliver to meet him at Jitters.

She thought it was strange because when she had called him after she received the good news about Roy he had brushed it off as just him doing his job.

They arrived at Jitters on time but Barry was nowhere to be seen.

The blonde was at the cashier again but the moment she saw Felicity she took a bathroom break and had a coworker deal with her instead. Oliver got them the same table.

As soon as she sat down, Barry came running in and took the seat next to her again.

"Sorry I'm late," he said breathing heavy.

"Barry, why did you call us here?" Felicity asked.

"I wanted to thank you," he said earnestly.

"Thank us for what?" Felicity asked confused. "It's us who owe you."

"Last night Eobard Thawne was delivered to the SCPD by The Hood with a note explaining who he was and what he was wanted for," Barry explained happily.

"We had nothing to do with that Barry," Oliver stated quickly.

"Sure you didn't. You two are the only people that knew why I was here. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I got approved to escort Thawne back to Central City. I leave tonight and I should really get started packing but I couldn't go without thanking the both of you," Barry insisted. And just like how he appeared, he was gone in a flash.

"Felicity this is me noticing you staring," Oliver said to her.

"You helped Barry," she said proudly.

"That's kind of what we do at nights," he said brushing it off.

"Oliver Queen you are the most remarkable man I know," Felicity stated in awe. She noticed a pink tinge cover his face and ears. "Is the great Oliver Queen blushing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said standing up, picking up their empty coffee cups and walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The next chapter is titled Robert Queen. Wonder what he wants?
> 
> If case you're interested, Meagan is also going through all of my posted one-shots and editing them. I'll start posting the edited versions next week.


	11. Robert Queen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. Thank you to my beta missmeagan666 at Ao3.

Roy's arrest had introduced Felicity to the famous Laurel Lance. The woman was every bit as beautiful and as fabulous as the papers made her out to be. Her outfits were prefect, her hair, nails and make-up flawless but most importantly of all, she didn't babble like Felicity. She was the perfect woman to compliment a man like Oliver Queen. The media went into a frenzy whenever the two appeared together. Felicity remembered when she first moved to Star City, the magazines at the grocery checkout line were plastered with news that the golden couple had broken up again. On paper it looked perfect but in reality it didn't seem to work. Oliver always seemed to stray away from her. She had no doubt that he cared deeply for Laurel but he was reckless with her love.

Felicity used to think he was just a spoilt rich kid that took his loyal girlfriend for granted but having met him, she didn't believe that any more. The truth was that Oliver was a very complicated man. There were so many contradictions within Oliver's personality. He had a caring heart but at the same time he could easily put an arrow in you. She had seen him walk in and command a room with his presence but she had also seen him shrink into himself, unsure of his next course of action. He could commit to his vigilante cause but not a relationship. She wasn't even sure if Oliver even understood himself.

From what she could tell his relationship with his mother and sister were good but his relationship with his father was strained. His father wanted Oliver to follow the yellow brick road he had paved for him but Oliver kept wandering onto the lush green grass to play. If his father ever found out he was playing with bows and arrows in the Glades every night, the man might have a heart attack.

Sometimes Oliver drove her mad, she wanted him miles away from her and sometimes she wanted to rip off his clothes and ravish him. To be honest, it was mostly the latter but she really couldn't blame herself for feeling that way. She worked closely with the most eligible bachelor in Star City and he was shirtless all the time! Whoever Oliver finally decided to settle down with was going to be one lucky woman.

She had done it again. She was thinking about Laurel and her thoughts went straight to Oliver again. She was fairly sure Laurel and Oliver didn't meet up after the party. Based on police reports, Oliver had spent most of the night beating up thugs in The Glades trying to find Eobard Thawne. She pieced together his movements that night based on police reports and there was no time for him to meet up with Laurel for a private date. So if Laurel didn't meet up with him, who did she meet up with? Felicity hated mysteries and this was bugging her. She was determined to figure out what it was Laurel was doing on the down low but she didn't have much time to devote to this particular extra-curricular activity.

* * *

Business was booming because of Roy's frame-up. Quite a few guys that he met in the police station were contacting them for help with their cases. She had to remind them that she was not a defence attorney and inform her prospective clients that if she found evidence that convicted them she would turn it over to the police. She was surprised at how many actually accepted her terms. A guilty person wouldn't want to take the chance that she would find the final nail to put in their coffin but an innocent person would take her offer. It made her wonder if the police wasn't doing their job properly.

Felicity was reviewing her schedule for the day with Roy in her office when the buzzer by the entrance door rang. Both of them looked at the security monitor located on the side wall of her office to see Robert Queen standing in front of their offices.

"Your future father-in-law," Felicity quipped. "Perhaps he's here to lecture you on how to treat his daughter."

Roy pinched her arm in retaliation. "He doesn't even know we're dating!" he told her.

"I doubt that, if Oliver knows, he must know as well," Felicity reasoned.

"Oliver clearly doesn't tell his parents everything," Roy reminded her.

The buzzer rang again and both turned to look at monitor again.

"So should I let him in boss?" Roy asked hand hovering over Felicity's button at the side of her desk that would open the front door.

Felicity chewed on her bottom lip contemplating what Robert Queen wanted. It wasn't like she could hide from him so she nodded her head for Roy to let him in. They both left her office and moved to the reception area to greet the older Queen. Roy sat at his desk and Felicity stood off to the side as he entered the lobby. The Queen Patriarch was tall, he was whom Oliver got his height from. He stood tall and proud as he surveyed the reception area his eyes stopping for a few seconds on the painting Moira had hung.

"Sir, can we help you?" she asked in a professional tone.

His gaze finally landed on her for the first time and he surveyed her from head to toe. "How much?" he asked out of the blue.

"I'm sorry sir, how much is what?" Felicity asked hoping he wasn't propositioning her for sex because if he was, regardless of him being Oliver's father, she was going to introduce him to her brand new baseball bat.

He continued to stare at her with a steely gaze, a gaze she had seen Oliver use from time to time when he was determined to do something. The longer he stared the more unnerved she became.

She supposed that was the point of the stare, to unarm your opponent.

"If you want to know how much for my services, I need to know exactly what you require," Felicity said as the drawn out silence got to her. Realising that her statement could imply that she was offering something else, Felicity opened her mouth to clarify herself, "And by services I mean, detective work."

"Don't play coy Ms. Smoak. I know you work for my wife," he said sternly. "How much does she pay you?"

"I'm sorry sir but I do not reveal who my clients are. I take their confidentiality very serious," Felicity responded.

"Despite what you may think, I know my wife very well. I know when she's figured out who my new lover is. She has some very obvious tells, just like that painting tells me she's been here," he revealed pointing to the painting on the wall. "It's just her style. She likes these landscape portraits. Something about the untouched look attracts her to them. Maybe it makes her feel as if her soul is pure which is the exact opposite of what it is. There is no point in pretending Ms. Smoak that you don't work for my wife," he insisted. "I can pay you twice what she's offering you."

Felicity didn't see any point in denying it any longer. Robert Queen must have used his ring of investigators to find her and he wouldn't be here without solid proof. "Mr. Queen, my policy is to work for one spouse not both," Felicity responded smoothly.

She glanced at Roy out of the corner of her eye and he looked like a teenager avidly watching the latest thriller. The only thing missing was a bag of popcorn.

"I'm not paying you to work for me," he scoffed. "I have real investigators to do that. I'm paying you not to work for my wife," he informed her brusquely.

Felicity was very offended, "I am a real investigator. If I wasn't, you wouldn't have to pay me not to work for your wife, which for the record I'm not going to do. Please leave my office."

Mr. Queen stepped forward till he was inches in front of her. Roy rose immediately from the desk but Felicity held her hand out to stop him. The last thing she needed was him beating up Oliver's and Thea's father. Robert Queen's height towered over her but she didn't let that intimidate her.

"Let me clarify this for you Ms. Smoak. Either you give me a figure or I make your life a living hell. It's your choice. I'll give you 24 hours to decide," he stated before walking out of her office.

Felicity put her hand on Roy's shoulder, "You have some father-in-law you're going to have to put up with," she teased him.

Roy looked at her astonished, "Seriously? That man just threatened to shut you down and you're teasing me."

"I'm not worried," Felicity said confidently.

"Well I am," Roy admitted picking up his pone off the desk and starting to type away a message.

"What are you doing?" Felicity asked suspiciously.

"Sending Oliver a message," Roy answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Felicity snatched his phone away. "No, Oliver is not a part of Smoak Detective Agency and you are not to involve him in our business matters. You don't see me messing with how Verdant is run!"

"But Felicity," Roy tried to plead.

"No! Do not get Oliver involved. This is Oliver's father and the last thing we want to do is drive the wedge between them even deeper," Felicity said.

Roy crossed his arms angrily over his chest. "Fine but if things get out of control. I will be telling Oliver."

"Everything will be fine," Felicity declared confidently. "Now get the Summer file. I have an idea to prove his innocence."

* * *

Forty eight hours later found Felicity's on her way to get lunch. It was her turn to get lunch and she was in desperate need of a Big Belly Burger. She was well aware that saying no to a man like Robert Queen would have serious consequences but she was confident that she could handle whatever he threw at her. What she couldn't handle was the wait. She thought as soon as the twenty four hour period was up he would return but there had been no sign of Robert Queen and it was driving her stress levels up.

Felicity was the definition of a stress eater. During the day it was burgers and at night it was mint chip ice cream. She's sure she put on two pounds yesterday and today might be three since she's the one placing the orders. She might just eat a burger there and then have another one with the team. She couldn't wait to sink her teeth into the juicy burger. She imagined it clearly and her stomach rumbled in anticipation of the meal that was to come.

Blue and red lights appeared in her rear-view mirror accompanied with a few beeps of the siren.

She glanced at her speedometer and she was well within the speed limit. She pulled over and wound down her window while two police officers approached her car. She recognised Officer Carrie Cutter, Robert Queen's mistress, so this was his move.

"Is there a problem officer?" Felicity asked addressing Officer Cutter.

"You were going over the speed limit," she stated confrontationally.

"With all due respect I was not Officer. I was going 25mph in a 30mph zone," Felicity defended herself.

"You also have a broken tail light," Cutter said ignoring Felicity.

At that moment her car shook and she heard shattering glass behind her. She tried to turn around to see what had happened but Cutter drew her gun.

"Do not turn around, hands on the wheel or else I'll shoot you," she said.

It was a good thing Felicity had been in situations with guns before or she would be having a meltdown now. She calmly placed her hands on the wheel and glanced in her rear-view mirror. Cutter's partner was behind her car. She glanced around to see if she saw any street cameras, ATMs or business with security cameras and she found none. Officer Cutter was surprisingly smart enough to choose a camera free zone.

"Get out of the car," Cutter demanded.

"How am I supposed to get out of the car with my hands on the steering wheel?" Felicity asked.

Cutter called out to her partner, "We have a person resisting arrest!" Cutter then opened the car door, dragged Felicity out by her hair, tossed her on the ground and then using her full weight dropped on to Felicity's back with her knee. She twisted both of Felicity's arms around to handcuff her before she dragged her roughly from the ground and pushed her forcefully into the car.

Felicity was in pain. Her bare knees hurt from landing on the ground, the small of her back was throbbing and she was sure she had a bruise on her face from colliding with the car. To make matters worse, Felicity liked to drive bare foot and the pitch road was hot under her feet. Cutter then started dragging her towards the police cruiser.

"What about my car and my things?" Felicity said glancing back at her open car.

"A police impound vehicle will come and collect it," Cutter's partner advised her.

"But it's open. Anyone can just take it," Felicity said horrified.

"Not my concern," Cutter remarked opening the back of the police cruiser and making sure Felicity hit her head on the way in.

* * *

On arrival at the police station they took her straight to booking. She had her picture and finger prints taken and was then thrown in a holding cell with two very large women.

"Give her hell!" Cutter ordered before walking away.

Felicity should have been worried but she recognised one as Big Maddie, the matriarch of a family of thieves in the Glades. She had helped Maddie get her daughter into a good school so that her daughter wouldn't have a life of crime. Maddie would never hurt her.

"Ms. Felicity," Maddie said in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"A traffic misunderstanding," Felicity said limping towards the bed. She needed to sit down and take a look at her knees.

"There've been a lot of misunderstandings with the police lately," Maddie commented.

The other large woman nodded her head.

"Did they let you call a lawyer?" Maddie asked.

"Nope but I don't need a lawyer, I need Detective Lance. How long before an officer comes to check on us?" Felicity asked as she examined her knees. Both were bleeding.

"One passes every half an hour."

"Great as long as it's not Cutter I should be fine."

A young officer soon came and Felicity begged him to ask Detective Lance to meet with her. She hoped she could meet with Lance quickly because Oliver must have realised by now that she was missing. After she didn't pick up her phone on the second call, Oliver would call Carly and find out that she never arrived at Big Belly Burger. He, Roy and Diggle would start searching for her along the route to Big Belly Burger before they started branching out.

Half an hour later another Officer made his rounds and Felicity asked him as well to speak with Lance. A total of five more rounds passed before someone came to take her to an interrogation room. The tiles were cold under bare feet. She was hand cuffed to the interrogation table and left waiting in the room alone She stared at her reflection in the two-way mirror. She looked terrible.

Her face was bruised and her dress was ripped in a few places.

The door opened and Detective Lance walked in staring at his phone, "So this is where you are," he muttered. "Your boyfriend is ready to call in the National Guard to look for you."

"I do not have a boyfriend," Felicity answered with a heavy sigh. She knew Oliver was going to go all out looking for her.

"Well, tell that to Queen because he obviously didn't get that memo. Now why did you ask to speak with me?" Lance asked looking up from his phone for the first time. He visibly stepped back in shock when he saw her.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"Officer Cutter," she replied dryly.

Lance opened the file in his hands, "It says here that you resisted arrest."

"Really, do you think I would resist arrest?" Felicity asked sarcastically as Lance sat opposite her. "I have no upper body strength and I can probably only run five metres before I'm out of breath. Maybe I should start exercising more," Felicity mused.

"So what, I'm supposed to believe that Cutter beat you up for no reason?" Lance said dryly.

"I asked to see you because I believe you are a fair and honest policeman," Felicity said. She really didn't want to tell him about Robert Queen's involvement in this matter. He already held a grudge against the man.

"And what you think I'll believe you over a fellow officer?" he asked.

"Yes, I refute all of their claims. They carry body cams and dash cams, review the footage. It will have evidence of my innocence. They pulled me over just before that diner on sixth street. I'm sure if you go there, you'll find the evidence of my broken tail light on the ground right in front of the sign for the barber shop that never has anyone in it. Officer Cutter's partner broke my light so they would have an excuse to pull me over." Felicity said. "They even left my car open and unattended. Did it reach here safely?"

Lance nodded, "Your car is here and your belongings are in evidence but your phone and laptop have been sent to the FBI for review." Lance said looking at her file. He then frowned, "Your Private Detective license has been revoked, that was quick."

"I had no laptop on me," Felicity stated alarmed. Her laptop was in her office at Smoak Detective Agency.

"According to this report, one Acer laptop was recovered from your car," Lance explained.

"It isn't mine. Your chain of evidence was broken when they left my car unattended. They can't use anything in my car or anything they plant against me," Felicity said. "I hope the SCPD realise they have one hell of a lawsuit coming. I have over a dozen cases of people claiming they were wrongfully arrested and I can prove at least four of them."

Lance's phone started ringing and Felicity saw Oliver's name on the screen. He sighed heavily, "I'll take a look at the evidence only to get Queen to stop calling my phone! I'll get someone to come in and take you to clean yourself up a bit. If Queen sees you like this he'll throw a hissy fit in my station and I don't want that."

* * *

While Felicity waited a female officer, Officer Boland, came with a pair of flats, uncuffed her and took her to the bathroom with a first aid kit. She was able to fix her knees and wash her face but her back still throbbed. On the way back to the interrogation room they ran into Officer Cutter.

"What's she doing out of the holding cell?" Officer Cutter asked.

The female officer shrugged and Cutter tried to take Felicity away from her.

"Hey," Officer Boland exclaimed, "I have orders to return her to the interrogation room."

"I can do it," Cutter offered.

"No, I was specifically told to do it myself," she said.

"I'll accompany you," Cutter offered, "This one's a bit slippery."

Boland narrowed her eyes at her, "I'm sure you have some other important duties to attend to. I'm sure I can more than handle Ms. Smoak."

"This is my collar," Cutter said aggressively.

"Fine," Boland relented.

They walked around the bull pen back to the interrogation room. Boland opened the door and told Felicity to sit at the table. As soon as Felicity cleared the doorway Boland closed the door behind her. She couldn't hear what was going on outside but she did hear a thump against the door.

About an hour later Lance walked through the door, "You're free to go."

"I am!" she exclaimed happily.

"I reviewed the evidence or I should say lack thereof. The body cam and dash came were conveniently not working so I drove out to the area you were pulled over. Like you said there were glass shards on the ground to support your version of events but what really sealed it was the video footage a kid in the barber shop took. He started filming the minute they pulled you over. He claimed that the police arrested his brother the other day and he had no proof to support the misuse of force so he started filming in case the same thing happened again. I've submitted the video as evidence and the officers responsible for this will be disciplined. Do you know why they would want to target you?"

"Yes," Felicity answered honestly.

"Care to share?" Lance asked.

"As I said Detective, you're one of the good ones. For the sake of the integrity of the police force, stay out of this," Felicity advised.

Lance sighed heavily and shook his head, "the kids these days. By the way Queen is pacing a hole in the front of my station. Please get him the hell of here," he said pointing at the door.

Felicity smiled for the first time since she had arrived at the station, "Not a problem."

She found Oliver pacing and Diggle quietly seated reading through the day's newspaper. Oliver was the first to see her and in two large strides he was at her side, his large hand resting on her shoulder while his eyes looked her over to ensure she was safe. His gaze grew dark and angry as he saw her knees, the rips in her dress and the bruise on her face.

"Who did this?" he asked in a low tone very reminiscent of his Arrow voice.

"I'm fine. Let's go. I've been here long enough," Felicity pleaded. "I really want to go home and take a shower but first I need to swing by the office and get my laptop." She used her best puppy dog face to get Oliver to drop it but it didn't work.

"What happened?" he asked. "No one would tell me anything."

"It was just a traffic misunderstanding," Felicity said nonchalantly.

Oliver was opening his mouth to demand an answer when Diggle gratefully intervened. "You know Felicity you need to teach us how to use that tracker programme of yours because Oliver threw a huge fit when he couldn't find you."

"If did not throw a fit. I was merely concerned for Felicity's safety," Oliver defended himself.

"Hmm," Diggle mumbled shaking his head and walking away from them to go for the car.

Oliver tried to say something again but Felicity quickly followed behind Diggle.

* * *

Felicity had successfully ducked Oliver's questioning in the car and was hoping to continue her success in the office. Roy was still in the office actually doing work in her absence. She was hoping Oliver would wait in the car with Diggle but she had no such luck.

"You know it's kind of ironic that you were in a police station while we were looking for you but from the way you look maybe the police station wasn't as safe as I first thought," Roy quipped.

"I'm fine Roy, just a traffic misunderstanding," Felicity repeated as she headed to her office to get her laptop.

The buzzer rang, "What now!" Felicity exclaimed.

Roy used his computer to pull up the security camera feed, "Agent Kallis."

"The laptop," Felicity blurted out.

"What laptop, you said your laptop was here," Oliver said. "Felicity, what's going on? First the police and now the FBI."

"Oliver it's nothing," Felicity told him.

"Bullshit," Oliver said angrily before turning to Roy for answers, "Roy?"

"Leave Roy alone," Felicity said.

"Roy," he repeated seriously.

The buzzer rang again.

Roy looked apologetically at Felicity, "He can beat the shit out of me."

"And I can tell Thea all sorts of things about you," Felicity countered.

Roy turned to Oliver, "Sorry Oliver."

"I can talk to Thea too," Oliver said.

"But she won't listen to you," Roy responded.

The buzzer rang again.

"Ok, you don't want to tell me, I'll find out," Oliver promised. He looked at Roy before he left,

"Don't leave her alone," and he walked out letting Agent Kallis and his team of agents in.

"Agent Kallis to what do I owe this honour?" Felicity asked pleasantly

"We received a very interesting laptop from the SCPD today," he informed her.

"It wasn't mine," she said.

"An Agent Lance called to say that chain of evidence was broken but I thought it was worth a search to see if you have been hacking," Agent Kallis explained.

"I haven't hacked a thing unless you count that pumpkin that I hacked up for Halloween?" she said innocently.

"I heard your license was revoked," he said glancing at the spot on the wall where her portrait used to hand.

"Not for long," she assured him. "Search away. We're just going to order Chinese food. I haven't eaten all day."

* * *

The FBI search took four hours and it was well past midnight by the time they were finished. Felicity didn't want to go home to then return to the lair so she just went straight to the lair. There was a shower she could use and she borrowed one of Oliver's jerseys to wear. It floated on her and was just as long as the dress she was wearing. A check on Oliver's tracker showed he was at the Queen Mansion. She was thankful he hadn't gone out into the field without her. She hated when he did that.

It was good that he was home so he didn't have to see her hacking into the Queen Consolidated servers. They had good security and she soon got absorbed in her work.

"It was my father," Oliver's voice said behind her.

She jumped straight out of the chair in fright and held her hand to her chest.

"Don't ever do that again Oliver," Felicity said.

"It was my father's fault," Oliver said guiltily.

"How did you find out?" Felicity asked.

This time it was Oliver's turn to be coy, "I have my sources. You could have told me," Oliver said his index finger rubbing furiously against his thumb.

Felicity grabbed a hold of his hand, "Oliver I didn't tell you because I didn't want you involved.

He is your father. I think you should take a step back and let me deal with this," she said.

"A step back? Felicity this is my father doing this to you. I can't take a step back," Oliver insisted. "I'll talk to him. I'll get him to stop. He won't pay another officer to hurt you."

"Pay!," Roy snorted, "I'm sure he didn't have to pay his mistress anything to do that."

"Roy!" Felicity shouted.

"Mistress? What mistress?" Oliver asked confused as he looked to Roy for answers.

"Opps, sorry I thought he knew. When I saw the file I thought it was Oliver that had you look into it," Roy explained.

"Not another word Roy," Felicity said pointing her index finger at him.

Oliver turned to Felicity, "What aren't you telling me?"

"Oliver it is a confidential matter," Felicity said.

"Confidential!" he screamed before going silent. "My mother. That is how you met her and how she knew it was my father that had you arrested. She hired you to investigate my father," Oliver said putting it together.

"Well whoever said you were just a dumb playboy billionaire was clearly wrong," Felicity quipped.

Oliver gave her a look that indicated that he wasn't very pleased with her comment. "I'm going to go talk to my father!"

His tone clearly said that it was not up for discussion so Felicity decided to hold her tongue. What alarmed her though was when Oliver grabbed his suit and bow on the way out.

"Is he going to use that?" Felicity asked Roy.

He shrugged at her. For the first time in her life, Felicity found herself unable to work so she had Roy take her home.

* * *

Felicity couldn't sleep so she sat on her couch with a pint of ice cream as she binged her favourite season of Dr. Who. She worried over what Oliver was going to do. Was he going to confront his dad as the Arrow or as himself? If he did it as Oliver would he be able to maintain his composure? She was on her second pint of mint chip when there was a knock at her door. She checked her security system and saw Oliver standing outside the door with his hands in his pockets. She rushed to the door anxious to discover what had happened. She wrenched open the door and looked him over carefully. Instead of looking sullen or angry, like she expected he looked happy.

"I have something for you," he said stepping passed her and into the small living room.

She blinked and stared at the blank space Oliver had occupied, "Sure, come on in Oliver," she said sarcastically before turning to find him already seated on her sofa with the brown manila envelope on the coffee table in front of him. Where had that manila envelope come from? He must have had it tucked inside his coat. Thankfully her mother was a sound sleeper or she would be teasing Felicity about her early morning visitor.

"What's that?" she asked nodding towards the envelope.

He reached forward and pulled a document out of the envelope, "This," he said holding the document out for her to take, "is your freedom."

"My freedom?" she asked confused tilting her head to the side. She didn't understand what Oliver was talking about.

"Yes you no longer have to report to the FBI and your record has been expunged," he explained proudly.

"What!" Felicity exclaimed grabbing the papers from him. She quickly skimmed the documents and it indeed confirmed everything Oliver had just said.

"How?" she asked finding for the first time in her lifetime difficulty in forming words to express herself.

"Lyla. She owed you for Russia. When she heard what was going on with the FBI she thought it was the least she could do," he explained.

"But..." Felicity started to protest when Oliver stood and rested his hands on both of her shoulders.

"Felicity if anyone deserves this, it's you. Just accept it," he insisted. "Lance also got your

Private Detective License reinstated."

She nodded, "What about your dad?"

"I handled my dad," he said tersely.

Felicity watched him suspiciously.

"Not as the other guy," Oliver assured her. "I made him an offer he couldn't refuse."

"Oliver what kind of offer?" Felicity asked concerned.

"Nothing bad. From Monday I start working as the Vice-President of Queen Consolidated," he told her.

"Oliver you didn't have to take a job in the company for me," Felicity said.

"I didn't only do it for you. Your case opened my eyes to my father's behaviour. If he could railroad you like that, how many other people has he done it to? How many times has he abused his power? I can't be fighting crime in the streets and have my own house in disarray. I need to go into the company and straighten things out. I can't let my father abuse his power like that," Oliver said before looking thoughtful. "Besides this is probably better than putting an arrow in my father," he quipped.

Oliver's right hand moved from her shoulder and he cupped the left side of her face. Felicity automatically leaned in to his touch. His thumb started rubbing her cheek and the world started to slowly disappear around her as she focused on Oliver. His eyes flickered down to her lips and she swears he dipped his head towards her before he suddenly stepped away from her.

"I should get going."

As fast as he entered he left.

Felicity was left staring at the door wondering what the hell just happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very sorry for the long wait for this chapter.


	12. Sara Lance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. Thank you to my lovely beta missmeagan666 for her work.

Over the next week Oliver had been scarcely around Smoak Detective Agency because of the new job at QC. She heard from Diggle that Robert was working Oliver hard, forcing him to get up-to-speed ASAP. Oliver was taking it in stride but Felicity couldn't help but feel guilty that she had been the cause of this. She missed him at lunch but he always made up for it by bringing dinner to the lair. She used to look forward to lunch but the excitement she had for lunch has now shifted to dinner. They would talk about their days and he would seek her advice about several projects at QC that he couldn't understand. Even though she saw him at their night job, she felt like she wasn't getting to spend the same amount of time with Oliver as she had before and that troubled her. She shouldn't be feeling that way about him. She shouldn't miss him as much as she does.

Felicity started hanging around the lair later at nights which meant she woke up later in the mornings. Roy was supposed to open the office for her when she was late which was why she was surprised to find Detective Lance and Officer Boland waiting for her in Lance's car outside her office. She parked in her usual spot and met them in front of her office door.

"Am I under arrest again?" she asked. "Because I really think I might have to put your daughter on retainer."

Detective Lance cracked a smile, "No arrests today. We have a matter we wish to discuss with you."

"The investigation into the Cutter case?" Felicity hazards a guess. Both of their faces remained stoic not giving away a thing.

"Could we go inside?" Lance asked nodding at the door.

"Oh, yes, of course," Felicity put her thumb on the finger print scanner and then covered the keypad as she entered her code, Oliver's birthday, no one but her knew that.

They went through the first door and Felicity was slightly ticked off to find the lights off. Roy was still asleep. He knew he was supposed to open the office an hour ago! She opened the second door and switched on the lights.

"That's quite the security system," Officer Boland commented looking around the office.

"I would like to say she doesn't need it," Lance started, "But trouble has a way of finding Ms. Smoak."

Felicity rolled her eyes, "All of that is Oliver's over reaction to a client attacking me in my previous office. One door would have been sufficient but Oliver likes to be thorough. My office is this way."

She was about to guide them to her office when there was a crashing sound that came from the kitchen causing both Lance and Boland to draw their guns.

"Would that be the trouble you spoke about?" Boland asked Lance.

"It's probably just Roy," Felicity said ignoring them and moving towards the kitchen. She opened the door and swiftly closed it. She leaned against the door and looked at both Lance and Boland. "I was right. It is just Roy. My office is right through that door there," she pointed at the one to the left of Roy's desk. "Please take a seat. I'll be with you in a moment."

When she was satisfied that they were far enough away, she cracked the kitchen door open and whispered angrily, "The Kitchen!"

"Sorry ," came the voice of Thea Queen.

"I can't believe you two! We eat in there. Thea, I expect a new table in the kitchen by lunch time," Felicity state leaving no room for compromise.

"Done," her voice floated out from the room.

"Roy, I have a meeting now, when I finish you better be cleaning every flat surface in this office with bleach!" Felicity shook her head and walked to her office. There was a clearly stated rule about no sex in the office and Roy was going to face the full consequences for breaking that rule.

Detective Lance and Officer Boland were both seated in front of her desk. She hoped they hadn't heard her conversation with Roy and Thea. She liked to think she ran a professional office and that last thing she wanted was for clients to see her disciplining her occasionally delinquent employee. She closed her office door behind her and then strode forward confidently. She dropped her purse on top of her desk and delicately placed her laptop bag in the centre. She set it up and then looked at Lance, "So what do you need from me for the Cutter case? If this is about why Cutter targeted me all I can say is it's in connection with another case I was working on."

"It is kind of connected," Lance admitted, "But Officer Boland is working another angle. When you were speaking with me you mentioned cases you were working on where individuals were falsely accused."

"You want to know which cases," Felicity surmised.

"Yes," Lance answered honestly.

"No," Felicity replied firmly. How many times did she have to say her cases were confidential and anything short of a court order would not work?

"Surely you can see ..." Lance began trying to convince Felicity to release the information.

"What Detective Lance is trying to say," Boland interrupted, "Is any type of help would be appreciated even if it's just a point in the right direction." She was definitely more diplomatic than him.

Felicity sat back in her seat mulling over the request. "I think I can do better than just a point." She opened her personal files on the laptop and clicked on a project she had started recently. The printer in the corner of the room came to life and pages started coming out. "It'll be done in a few seconds," she said walking over to the printer. When it stopped she gathered the papers and went to the corner of her desk where the stapler was located. She tried to staple the document only to realise her stapler was empty.

"Frack! I hate when that happens," Felicity said moving to her desk draw to find the extra her staples.

"What is that?" Boland asked while Felicity dug threw her desk draw.

"It's my personal work. After I realised that the number of false arrests were rather high coupled with my recent," Felicity paused and then threw a smirk at Lance, "Trouble, I decided to look into all the suspicious police cases over the last 10 years." She found the staples and proceeded to put them in the stapler. "I've only completed the last year of cases so far. SCPD has a lot of cases," she added as a side note. She stapled the corner of the document and then handed it to Boland. "That," she said pointing to the document, "Are my results so far. I flagged several cases and started making a short list, which really isn't that short when you think about it, of all the cops that I think are dirty."

Boland started skimming through the document, "This is quite thorough. I know about Kane and Tuva but Hodgkin's too. IA could really use an investigator like you."

Felicity cocked her head to the side curiously, "IA as in Internal Affairs?"

"I think that will be all," Lance said getting up hurriedly and heading towards the door.

"Yeah, thank you very much for this," Office Boland said sincerely.

Felicity suspected that Officer Boland was IA and Lance was probably the only one in the precinct that knew. That meant that someone knew there was a problem at the station and they were trying to address it.

Detective Lance cleared his throat and Felicity turned her attention to him at her open office door, "Can you please tell Ms. Queen that her boyfriend's red hoodie is not suitable office attire."

Felicity rushed to the door, Roy was shirtless behind his desk and Thea was now halfway to the door that led up to his loft.

"Oh boss you're here," Roy said innocently.

"Of course I'm here. Where else will I be?" Felicity asked with narrowed eyes.

"The meeting you mentioned," Roy suggested with a shrug.

"You mean the meeting I just concluded in my office?" she fired back at him.

"Oh it was here," Roy realised. "That wasn't in your schedule for the day."

Felicity clenched her fists, closed her eyes and counted backwards from five. With each number she loosened her fist just a little bit. It was a technique that was supposed to release her anger but when she opened her eyes and looked at the bare-chested Roy her anger seemed to increase.

"Get out of sight so that my clients and I can leave. When I return you had better had cleaned this entire office from ceiling to floor! And I will be doing a thorough inspection."

* * *

The next day when she arrived at work she found the office open and Roy dressed to a tee. His shirt and pants looked freshly ironed and his hair was combed back in a more professional manner. She had a distinct feeling Thea had a lot to do with this look. He had her schedule ready for her and updated her on all of her cases, not that she needed updating but she listened to what he had to say. It was a stark contrast from the day before. She still gave him the cold shoulder though. He needed to learn that there was a time and place for everything. She entered her office and closed the door behind her. She looked over her schedule and noted her first appointment of the day was with Sara Lance. That was strange. Why was Sara coming to her and not Oliver?

By the time she had settled down, Roy was on the intercom letting her know that Sara had arrived early for her appointment and he asked, quite politely, if she was available to see Sara now. Felicity was available and she asked him in her professional tone to send her in.

"Hi Felicity," Sara greeted as she came through the door, "Do I want to know how you got Roy to dress like that?"

"Hi Sara, no, you don't want to know," Felicity said with a large smile. She pointed to the seat in front of her desk, "What can I do for you?"

"I prefer girls," Sara blurted out nervously as she took a seat.

"I heard," Felicity answered. "What does that have to do with me? Unless you're propositioning me? Are you propositioning me? I hope you're not propositioning me because you're so nice Sara and I would hate to have to disappoint you but I don't do girls. I rather like boys."

"Trust me; I'm not hitting on you. Oliver has his territory clearly marked and as great as you are, I'm not poking that particular bear. I just mentioned it because I'm bisexual and I didn't want that to be a problem. Even in this day and age I've encountered quite a bit of disapproval."

Felicity softened her expression, "I am a professional and I can assure you my client's sexual preference, unless it's underage kids, doesn't affect my ability to do by job. So what do you need me to do?"

"I met this girl recently but I haven't seen her in a few days and I'm worried that something happened to her," Sara said fidgeting on her chair.

"Is this the same exotic brunette from Roy's party?" Felicity asked curiously.

"No. We broke up that night actually," Sara admitted.

"Oh sorry," Felicity said a bit awkwardly. She hated situations like that. She never knew what to say.

"It wasn't meant to be," Sara said with a shrug. "I met someone new though."

"This girl that you're worried about," Felicity guessed.

"Yes," Sara replied.

"What is her name?" Felicity asked.

"I don't know," Sara replied.

Felicity's eyebrows scrunched together confused, "You don't know her name?"

"No. I met her at a bar frequented by the LGBTQ community. She was one of those that wasn't completely out of the closet yet because she paid for everything in cash and gave no one her name."

"Ok," Felicity said willing to give Sara the benefit of the doubt, "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Five days ago," Sara answered quickly.

"Where?" Felicity asked.

"When she left my apartment in the morning," Sara said with a slight blush.

"You had a one night stand with her?" Felicity asked in a neutral tone.

"Not exactly," Sara admitted. "Yes, we only had sex that night but we had a few dates. I first met her at the bar seven days before and we hit it off. We met there every night and finally five days ago I took her home. I thought we would have met up at the bar that night but she didn't show and she hasn't shown since so I'm worried."

"Sara, is it possible that she isn't interested," Felicity asked. She hated saying something so negative to Sara but she needed to be realistic. Part of her job was preparing her clients for bad news.

"No, she's definitely interested. When she left my apartment it was implied that we would see each other again," Sara said. Felicity knew Sara firmly believed that.

"You are absolutely positive she was not playing you?" Felicity asked again.

"She isn't like that," Sara said shaking her head in denial.

"You've know her how long?" Felicity asked sceptically.

"Look I know what it sounds like but I'm a pretty good judge of character. I need to find her," Sara emphasised.

"Ok. What does she look like?" Felicity asked opening a case file on her computer to start taking notes.

Sara smirked, "Exotic brunette."

Felicity gave her a look.

"I'm serious. I have a type," Sara admitted.

"Apparently, so all you've given me so far is she's an exotic brunette," Felicity summarised.

Sara nodded her head.

"Does the club have any security cameras?" Felicity asked hoping she could get a picture of the woman.

"Nope, I've given you all I know. Can you help me find her?" Sara pleaded.

Felicity leaned back in her chair, "You've certainly given me a challenge. I'll try. Can you write down the location of the club? I'll also need the days you met her there and the times you arrived and left. Also state if she was already at the club and if you left her there at the end of the night. Perhaps I can find some cameras nearby to track her down with."

"Great, I'll do that and text it to you," Sara said, "Uhm about payment, do you have a payment plan or something."

"Let's see how the expenses rack up. Oliver thinks I'm too cheap and I should charge more," Felicity said casually.

At Sara's salacious grin she clarified, "Charge for my private detective services."

"Mmmm," Sara said bursting out into giggles. "If that's what you two like to call it."

* * *

Roy updated her schedule to include a 2 o'clock appointment with Oliver. That peaked her interest because if it was Arrow related he usually called her directly. An appointment implied it was Oliver Queen related. Maybe Sara had mentioned to him that she had hired Felicity and he was coming to discuss that. Or maybe he ran into some other problem. It wasn't girlfriend related because he hadn't had one since Hannah. Most of the magazines were saying he was in a dry spell.

She was further confused when he walked through the door at 2:00pm on the dot and shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets and he looked like a young boy who was unsure of himself. His eyes were looking everywhere around her office but at her. She had never seen Oliver like this.

"Oliver?" Felicity asked getting up from her desk and going to him immediately. She reached out and held both of his hands in hers. "What is it?"

His beautiful eyes met hers for the first time since he entered her office. She could see he was nervous about something. He sighed and licked his lips.

"Felicity, I was wondering if…" he paused and looked up at the ceiling as if asking for strength. His thumbs started to rub circles onto the back of her hands.

Seriously? Where was the confident man that strode into the room and made eye contact with everyone? "If?" she decided to prod to get him to complete his sentence.

He inhaled and puffed his chest out, "Would you like to go to dinner with me?" he said on the exhale. He managed to make eye contact with her but just barely.

She smiled, "Yes, but not any fancy restaurant. I will not be a flavour of the week."

A humungous grin broke out on his face before he processed the rest of her sentence and his smile turned to a pout, "I was not that bad."

"You were," she insisted. "Though you kind of quit cold turkey after the Hannah incident."

"Hannah was a wakeup call that I need to start taking my life as Oliver Queen seriously. I had been only focused on maintaining the cover during the day but I need to live that life as well. I don't want any shallow relationships anymore. I dated most of them just to be seen with them. I probably only slept with a quarter of them."

That revelation surprised her.

"I want something more meaningful now. I want someone I can share both of my lives with. We don't have to be seen in public. In fact we don't even need to go to a restaurant, I'll cook for you," he said.

Felicity had zero control over the laugh that erupted from her. "You can cook?"

"Yes, they certainly don't cook for you in boot camp. In fact they don't do anything for you. You should have seen me the first time I tried to use a washing machine and make a bed," he reluctantly let go of her hands and walked over to her desk. He reached across and picked up the red pen and sticky pad. He wrote something down and peeled off the note and put it in her hands.

"This is the address for my private loft," he told her.

"You have a loft?" Felicity asked confused. She thought you she knew everything about Oliver. Clearly she had missed something.

"It's not in my name. Only Digg, Thea, Tommy and the Lance sisters know about it. 7:00pm. I'll have dinner ready," he said earnestly

"Ok," Felicity agreed.

* * *

Felicity stood outside the door to Oliver's loft and nervously adjusted the red dress she was wearing. She had spent the entire afternoon agonising over what to wear, how to do her hair, how much make up should she wear, so much so that she got zero work done. She left early and told Roy he could lock up early. She had forwarded all calls to her cell and if there was an emergency she would let him know.

She practically emptied her entire closet on her bed before she finally settled on the red cold shoulder dress that stopped at mid thigh. Once she finalised the dress she had to pick shoes, a purse, and jewellery to go with the look.

She made sure to arrive 15 minutes early because she doubted Oliver's ability to cook and she needed to verify his claims. She rang the buzzer and a frantic Oliver, dressed in an apron with a Disney princess on it, appeared at the door, "What!" he said angrily.

She arched her eyebrow at him. Clearly he didn't think she was the one ringing his bell.

His angry looked morphed into one of horror when he realised that it was Felicity standing at his door. "Felicity, you're early."

"A little," she said, "Cute apron."

"Thea bought it for me. She thought it would be funny," Oliver sulked.

"Oh it is but it's also very cute on you," she assured him.

He pursed his lips before remembering that he needed to invite her inside. He stepped aside and she entered quickly. She was a bit nervous because she knew she was entering Oliver's private sanctuary that he rarely shared with anyone. To be invited was a privileged but to be invited for a first date spoke volumes.

She scanned his loft. The ground floor was open with minimal furniture but the kitchen countertop was full with gadgets and devices. An alarm for the oven went off and Felicity watched as Oliver hustled back to the kitchen picked up some oven mitts off of the island and pulled a dish out of his double oven.

Felicity decided to follow him into the kitchen scrutinizing the area for takeout counters. When she didn't see any take out boxes she decided to check his garbage.

"Where's the garbage?" she asked casually.

Oliver was too preoccupied with his dish to wonder why she needed to know where it was. "That cupboard," he pointed quickly.

Felicity opened the cupboard and the bin appeared. She inspected the contents. She saw vegetable cuttings, a paper wrapping that usually wrapped meat sourced at the butcher came in and a pasta bag. There were no takeout boxes.

"Wait, do you doubt me?" Oliver asked as it finally clicked in his head what she was up to.

"I'm verifying my facts," she responded.

"I can tell you exactly how I cooked each dish," he declared before he launched into a detailed explanation.

Felicity stared at Oliver quite impressed with him. She thought she knew a lot about him but he had surprised her tonight. She had no idea about three quarters of the things he was saying. Both she and her mother couldn't cook but the passion with which he was talking made her smile.

She caught the word nuts in his speech and her heart stopped. She turned to the dish on the countertop and she could see he had indeed garnished the top with crushed nuts. He also mentioned that the meat was in a source with nuts. Her face must have given away her horror because he was suddenly asking her if she was ok.

Felicity felt like she was about to be the biggest bitch ever. Oliver had put so much effort into the meal and she had to tell him she couldn't eat it. "Oliver, I…" her voice broke. She swallowed and started again, "Oliver it looks lovely but I..."

"Look," he cut her off, "I'll call Thea. She'll verify it's edible."

Before she could stop him he was calling Thea.

"What did you screw up?" his sister's angry voice filled the space.

"Felicity looks like she thinks she might die if she eats my food!" he said distressed.

Felicity nodded her head in agreement. That was a fairly accurate assessment. His food was life threatening to her.

"Felicity," Thea directly addressed her, "Oliver's food is the best. I beg him to cook for me."

"Great, now I don't feel so bad by not eating it. You and Roy can come and eat so it doesn't go to waste and Oliver and I can salvage this date at Big Belly Burger," she suggested.

"Why?" Thea's voice said beating Oliver to the question.

"I'm allergic to nuts," Felicity was finally able to explain.

"How allergic?" Oliver asked.

"Swollen throat, hospital visit allergic," Felicity answered.

"Step away from the counter now!" Oliver moved the food to the other side of the counter as far away from her as it could get.

"Oliver you idiot!" Thea said through the phone, "You didn't ask her what she could eat."

"We ate lunch every day at the office. How did this not come up?" Oliver asked confused.

"Simple, I order food I've had before that I know is nut free. As we're on the topic of food preparation you should also know I'm Jewish so the food should be kosher."

Oliver stared at her dumbfounded. She sympathised with him. She felt that way only a few times that day when he revealed his secret loft and his secret cooking skills.

"Well your stupidity is my gain. Roy and I'll be there soon," Thea chirped before hanging up.

"I ruined this date," Oliver stated dejectedly.

"Hey it's ok," Felicity said reaching for his hand. "I love Big Belly Burger. You know that."

Oliver stared at her in amazement. "You're remarkable." He dipped his head to try to kiss her but she had to pull away.

"Wait, as much as I would love to kiss you, and believe me I really, really, really want to kiss you but did you try any of your food?"

"Yes," Oliver admitted sorrowfully.

"Then I can't kiss you right now. Maybe I'll consider it after Big Belly Burger when no traces of nuts will be in your mouth. I've waited months for this. A few more hours won't kill me," Felicity said lightly.

Oliver looked at her seriously, "Don't joke about death. I nearly killed you!" He kept that attitude all night refusing to even kiss her goodnight.

* * *

On the way to work the next day, Felicity decided to do a drive around near the club Sara had told her about and search for cameras. Sara had sent her the list the night before and she figured it couldn't help to start working on the nearly impossible case.

According to the information Sara sent, the young Lance never saw her friend arrive or leave the club, except for the time that they left together. Felicity knew Sara's building didn't have any cameras and the girl purposely chose to live on a street with no street cameras so her father couldn't spy on her.

The drive by didn't prove very fruitful. That part of town was very scarce on cameras. She did have one hope however. There was a QC research office nearby with cameras. Maybe the mysterious brunette might have passed by on the way to or from the club. Felicity decided she would visit Oliver at QC and sweet talk him into giving her the footage. It was much easier to hack into the system to add her name to his schedule than it would have been to obtain the camera footage.

When she arrived in the lobby she cleared security and went up to his floor. She met his Executive Assistant, a plump woman in her fifties that had a very motherly vibe about her. She certainly wasn't going to lose any sleep over Oliver succumbing to the advances of his assistant. The walls or more correctly the glass to Oliver's office was see-through and she could see him sitting behind the desk looking at reports. He had yet to notice her but that changed when his secretary called him on the phone to let him know his appointment had arrived. He looked most confused until he looked up and saw her.

"Mr. Queen will see you now," his assistant informed her.

"Thank you," Felicity said. She walked up to the door and entered his office.

"I'm guessing you hacked something," he said with a frown.

"Maybe I was desperate to see you?" she said with a shrug.

"We've been dating one day and already you're spying on me," Oliver quipped. The smile on his face clearly said he was teasing her. She lightly punched his hard bicep. "Ow," she said shaking her hand.

Oliver reached for her hand and lightly kissed her knuckles. "I'm going to have to teach you how to punch properly. You'll break your wrist with that technique."

"We can't have that," Felicity agreed.

"No we can't." He tried to bend down to kiss her but she moved away. "Uh ah," she shook her head and turned to look out the glass to see if his assistant was watching them. "Not in this office."

Oliver pursed his lips, "I'll have to get some privacy screens installed."

"I'm not here for that but I kind of like the glass. No temptation to misbehave," she told him.

"Glass has never stopped me before," Oliver admitted.

"I'm not much of an exhibitionist," Felicity informed him.

"Then I guess you didn't come here to kiss me?" he asked with a cute pout.

"No I came to ask a favour," she said with a wry smile.

"I'll do anything for a kiss," he told her.

"If you can bring me the security footage from in front the offsite QC research building for the times requested in your e-mail box, you might get more than a kiss," she teased.

"I think I really want that kiss first," Oliver said.

Felicity took a glance at Oliver's assistant to see she was busy with a file. She quickly reached up on her toes and pecked him on his cheek. "There a kiss," she said turning around and heading to the door. "I expect the footage tonight."

* * *

Felicity was focused intently on tracking down the latest bad guy that had come on Team Arrow's radar when her chair was suddenly pulled backwards away from her work station. She was spun around and pulled out of the chair into Oliver's arms. His lips crashed against her and it took her brain a second or two to process that she was no longer at her work station but in Oliver's arms being kissed. Once she was up to speed she eagerly returned the kiss.

Oliver reluctantly pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, "I couldn't wait any longer." He slipped something into her hands. "All the information you wanted."

Felicity reached up on her toes and kissed him again. The kiss quickly started to turn into a full blown make out session.

"Woah!" Roy screamed interrupting them. "I thought there was to be no kissing anywhere we work!"

Oliver pulled away first, "I'll go suit up. We can continue this later."

"You bet we are continuing this later mister," Felicity said before returning to her computers.

* * *

A few days later, and many, many, many kisses with Oliver, Felicity waited for Sara in her office. She was anxious to deliver her good news. It wasn't often her Smoak Detective Agency cases ended on such a positive note. She was just bursting with joy though in all honesty some of it probably had to do with Oliver. Just thinking about him made her all warm and fuzzy.

"She's here," Roy said over the intercom.

"Send her into my office," Felicity instructed.

"Sure thing boss," came Roy's reply. She had eased up a bit on him especially after he caught her and Oliver making out in the lair.

Felicity schooled her features as she waited for Sara.

"Ms. Lance," Felicity said professionally as Sara entered her office.

"Hello Ms. Smoak, or is it going to be Mrs. Queen soon, I hear you're the reason Oliver's been walking around with that dopey smile on his face," Sara teased.

"I do not know what you're talking about?" Felicity said primly.

"Right," Sara replied. "So did you find her?"

"You gave me hardly any information to go on," Felicity said in a sad tone.

"You didn't find her," Sara said disappointed.

"Sara, I'm the best in the city of course I found her," Felicity boasted.

"You did!" Sara exclaimed happily.

"Yes," Felicity said rising from the desk. "Come with me." She led her to the kitchen were a tall exotic brunette waited by the brand new table Thea had bought.

"It's you!" Sara exclaimed happily. "You're alive."

"I am alive and I'm very sorry for disappearing on you like that. Sit and I'll explain everything to you," the exotic woman said with her accent.

Felicity closed the door quietly and left them to talk. That woman was Nyssa Al-Ghul, daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul, owner of the Al-Ghul Oil conglomerate. His fortune put the Queen's to shame. Where Nyssa is from, she could be killed for loving another woman. She lived one life in public and another life in private. Her father was aware of her love life and they had an agreement that she would inform him when she was entering into a relationship. He would run the usual background checks and ensure that the privacy she needed was there so that the family name was not tarnished. She had flown home to inform her father that she wished to enter into a relationship. He gave her the usual stipulations to keep the family honour in check. There were a few catches, Sara could not be seen in public with her and Sara would never be able to travel to her home to meet her parents if it came to that. In exchange she had the freedom to do what she wanted. There was a branch of Al-Ghul Oil in the city and Nyssa could work there while she pursued her relationship with Sara. It wasn't ideal but they could find a way to make it work.

"So they making out yet boss?" Roy asked her eagerly.

"Roy! Don't tempt me to tell Thea about your unusual interest in this?" Felicity said disgusted.

"What's unusual? Every straight guy wants to see two women make out. Just ask Oliver and Tommy," Roy told her.

"If your supporting evidence is Oliver and Tommy then you don't really have a strong case," she replied.

"I could take a poll," Roy offered.

"If you have time to waste on this nonsense then clearly I am not giving you enough work," Felicity said. "Why don't you type up the closing notes on this case while I swing by motel to see if I can catch Mr. Gillis in the act. I'll head home afterwards."

* * *

Felicity arrived home to find Oliver with a tool belt around his waist as he worked on the lock of her front door. It was a very sexy picture and those jeans he was wearing really showcased his butt.

"Seriously?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Your mom gave me permission to change it," he explained innocently.

"And what was wrong with the one before?" Felicity asked.

"So many things," he answered cheekily.

"You have a lock fetish," she insisted.

"Felicity there is no such thing. I am merely a safety conscious boyfriend and I like to make sure my girlfriend is safe when she isn't with me."

He tipped his head downwards and kissed her softly on her lips. If was very easy to forgive him when he kissed her.

"How cute!" her mother squealed.

Felicity opened her eyes and turned her head to see her mom with a phone in her hand.

"I have to share this pic with the girls back in Vegas," she said excitedly.

"No!" Felicity screamed rushing forward to grab the phone from her mother but she was too late, her mother had published the picture to Instagram already. Her mother took the phone back before she could delete the photo.

"How the heck can you post to Instagram yet you forget to press send on your messages to me!" Felicity declared angrily.

"Geez Felicity, one might think you're embarrassed by Oliver!" Donna said with a frown.

"That's not it," Felicity snapped. "We recently started dating. I was hoping to keep the paparazzi away for as long as possible. I'll be in my room."

Felicity had just enough time to switch on her TV before there was a knock on the door.

"Come in Oliver," she said.

"How'd you know it was me?" he asked.

"My mom doesn't knock," Felicity told him.

"So this is where the chair ended up," he said pointing to the chair he had given her as a thank you.

"Yeah I was falling asleep on it in the office so I brought it home after two days. I can move from the chair straight to the bed. It's very efficient."

"We can do something else more pleasurable on the chair," Oliver suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Oliver! My mother is home," Felicity protested.

"Actually she went out and left me with the instructions of 'Go get her tiger!'"

Felicity felt her face flush and she hid her face under her pillow, "Only my mom!" she groaned embarrassed.

"Hey," Oliver said sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling the pillow away from her face, "Don't hide your beautiful face from me."

If he continued saying such beautiful things to her she might burst from happiness so she changed the topic.

"Is the door finished?" she asked.

"Almost," Oliver said with a smirk.

"So Mr. Security conscious left my front door unlocked?" Felicity teased.

"When I'm with you I'm all the security you need," Oliver said leaning close and capturing her lips.

Felicity moaned into the kiss but she was not going to let him take a break until he finished the door.

"Go and finish the door and then we'll see what sort of reward my tool man deserves," Felicity said coyly.

"Yes boss," Oliver said with a salute.

She watched Oliver walk away in those tight jeans and smirked, "I can really get accustomed to being called boss!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Only one more chapter left :)


	13. Tommy Merlyn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow. Thanks to my beta missmeagan666 at Ao3.
> 
> This is the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

Felicity eyes slowly fluttered open. Even with her blurry vision she knew Oliver was staring at her again. This would be the fifth night in a row she spent in Oliver's secret loft. They seemed to be developing a habit of going to the loft after they finished their Arrow business and Felicity quite liked it.

"Must you stare at me while I sleep?" she asked him as she stretched out besides him. Did she really need to get out of bed today? She was in a nice warm bed with a naked Oliver next to her.

"You're the most beautiful creature on this planet," he replied. "How can I not stare at you?"

"Your charm does not work on me," she mumbled.

"Really, then how did I get you into bed?" he boasted.

"You got me into bed because you're my boyfriend and I like having sex with my boyfriend,"

Felicity promptly informed him.

"Your boyfriend likes having sex with you too," he said wrapping his arms around her to pull her closer so that he could trail kisses along her neck.

"You know I hate it when you use the third person to describe yourself," she admonished.

His scruff tickled her neck as he nodded causing her to giggle, so he did it again.

"Oliver! It tickles!" she protested.

"What was that?" Oliver asked feigning deafness, "You want tickles?"

His large hand that was resting on her back started to curl against her skin. His fingers began to make their way to her sides where she was especially sensitive to tickles.

"Don't you dare!" she threatened placing her hands flat against his hard chest and trying to push away from him. She didn't know why she was even bothering; he was much stronger than her.

"Or what?" he challenged her, his fingers resting lightly on her sides.

"Or I change my mind about sex and go have a shower instead," she countered looking him in

the eyes.

"You wouldn't! You just said you liked having sex with me," Oliver reminded her brushing his fingers lightly on her sides for a second. She immediately jerked at the contact and he gave her a satisfied smirk.

"So what?" she grumbled. "A girl can change her mind."

"My girlfriend wants sex. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I deprived her of some fun sex?" he said trailing his hands down to cup her butt.

Before Felicity could respond Oliver's phone started ringing with his father's ring tone.

"Hmm, cock-blocked by your own father," Felicity teased.

"I'm sure we can get a quickie in," he said enthusiastically.

"Uh uh," Felicity shook her head, "This girlfriend does not accept quickies, only mind blowing sex."

"It really is strange when you refer to yourself in the third person," Oliver commented.

"See," Felicity said punching his shoulder. "Now answer your phone before your dad goes ballistic!"

Oliver groaned and rolled over to his bedside table. He picked up the phone and answered, "What?"

Felicity slapped his arm. That was no way to speak to his father. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll be there in half an hour," Oliver said and hung up.

"I bought us half an hour," Oliver said wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Felicity rolled quickly off the bed and ran to the bathroom, "I call dibbs!"

Oliver chased right after her.

* * *

Felicity was happy she was the boss and she kept her own hours because Oliver was going to get one hell of a lecture from his father for being very late this morning. She did warn him that she didn't accept quickies. She much preferred it when he took his time.

The office was open when she arrived and her first client had arrived early to meet with her. Roy gave her five minutes to settle herself before he sent the client in. After that she had three other preset appointments and two walk-ins. She was given two more cheating husbands to catch and a missing bird to find. She rather suspected the bird might be the hardest case.

At five minutes to five, her official closing time on the door was five o'clock, the buzzer rang.

That meant she had another walk-in or a current client coming in to demand information about their case. She was hoping to leave at five on the dot that day. She wanted to go to the lair early to check up on her searches. Oliver had nothing big planned for the night but at the end of the week he wanted to shut down one of the Triad's warehouses that they were using as a base to traffic humans. Based on information they had collected earlier, a ship was scheduled to arrive and she needed to make sure she had all her ducks in a row for that mission.

Her phone started ringing and she knew it was Roy calling.

"Yes Roy?" she answered the phone.

"Tommy's here to see you?" he informed her.

"Who?" she asked confused. He said it with such familiarity she assumed he was talking about

an existing client.

"Tommy," he repeated.

"I don't have any clients named Tommy?" Felicity answered dumbfounded.

"Tommy Merlyn," he clarified exasperated.

Oh, that Tommy. Felicity didn't interact much with Tommy. He was Oliver's best friend and she didn't want to intrude on that relationship.

"What does he want?" she asked Roy.

"Gee I don't know usually the client sees you first but if you want me to handle my very first case," Roy said sarcastically.

"Oh its Smoak Detective Agency related," Felicity said finally understanding.

"Duh, what else would it be," Roy asked.

"Gee I don't know, Oliver related?" Felicity replied. "Send him in."

Felicity sat up straight, opened a new client file on her computer and waited for Tommy to enter. The first thing she noticed was the usual charming smile. She swore that look was permanently tattooed on to his face.

"Smoak," he greeted her.

"Tommy," she replied pleasantly.

He walked forward and sat down on the chair opposite her.

"So how does this usually work?" he asked.

"Well generally the client tells me what they want done," Felicity explained.

"Oh, right well I best get to it then, I need you to follow my father," he stated.

Felicity blinked, "You want me to follow Malcolm Merlyn?"

"Yes, I heard you followed Oliver's dad and caught him cheating," Tommy explained.

Felicity narrowed her eyes, "And who told you that."

"Oliver," Tommy responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh." She glanced at the screen of the laptop and typed in what service Tommy requested.

"It was Oliver who suggested that I come and see you," Tommy elaborated.

"Your father can't possibly be cheating on you unless you think he had an outside child?" Felicity asked.

"Oh nothing like that. He has a girlfriend. He's been seeing her for a few months and he refuses to let me meet her. He thinks I'll ruin what he has. I mean me," Tommy said using both of his hands to point to himself, "What could I possibly say that would scare her away. She's met my father and been intimate with him, what on Earth could be worse than that?"

"I can think of over a hundred things that are worse than that Tommy," Felicity said dryly. Oh the sheltered life of a billionaire.

"That's because you're a genius," Tommy said brushing her comment aside.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't your father a grown man?" Felicity asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked confused.

"Well he has the right to have a girlfriend and it's his choice if he wants to keep her a secret from you," Felicity advised.

"What if she's some gold digging woman and the next thing I know, I've lost my trust fund and inheritance to her," Tommy panicked.

"So that's what this is about your inheritance. Tommy, I sincerely doubt your father is the type to fall for a gold digger. I'm sure your trust fund is well protected," she assured him while she typed in that the client was concerned about their inheritance.

"It's protected from outsiders but not from him!" Tommy replied. "Please Felicity. This woman could be dangerous."

"Ok, I'll look into it but if I don't find anything wrong with her, I'm not telling you who it is," she stated her condition to him.

"Ok, fair enough," Tommy agreed.

As soon as Tommy left her office she wondered why billionaires kept coming to her to investigate their loved ones.

* * *

That night, after the Arrow made a few rounds in The Glades, they returned to Oliver's loft to settle down for the night. Felicity was still feeling wide awake so she decided to look through Oliver's DVD collection for a movie while Oliver worked on pouring them a glass of wine.

"I understand we have a case," Oliver said to her from the kitchen.

"We?" Felicity questioned turning away from the DVDs to look at Oliver.

"Tommy," he answered as he popped the cork open on the wine bottle.

"I believe Tommy came to me," Felicity stated with narrowed eyes.

"Yes I sent him there. I thought it would be nice for us to work together," Oliver confessed pouring Felicity a generous amount of wine. She would say her large wine glass was about three quarters full.

"We work together on our night job?" Felicity reminded him.

"Can't we work together on your day job occasionally?" he asked pouring himself a normal serving of wine.

"Are you trying to liquor me up to say yes?" she asked watching him walk towards her with the wine glasses. There was a very clear difference between her glass and his.

Oliver looked innocently down at the wine glasses, "You love your wine," he defended.

"No Oliver," she said firmly turning back to the DVD collection and picking up the one she knew would annoy him the most before swinging around to face him again. "You're not employed with Smoak Detective Agency just like I'm not employed at QC. I can't do QC work and you can't do Smoak Detective Agency work."

"I could hire you at QC," Oliver offered.

"No Oliver I am very happy where I am. I like helping people," she said. "And between my PI work and our night job, I have more than enough work to keep me occupied. I also have a new boyfriend that I would very much like to have at least some time to spend with him."

"Your new boyfriend loves spending time with you too. It's why he wants to go out on this case with you. Here," he said holding out her glass to her, "Have some wine."

Felicity eyed the glass dubiously but she couldn't pass up good wine. She lifted the glass to her mouth and took a tentative sip. It was really good.

"What bottle is this?" Felicity asked curiously.

"Lafite Rothschild 1982," Oliver answered with a cocky smirk. He had planned this!

"You know I love that wine," she said. "You really want to work on this case with me?" she asked.

"Yes," he stated.

"Ok, I'll make you a temporary employee but I'm not paying you and we do it my way!" she stated her terms.

"Great, now that that is settled," Oliver said eyeing her glass. "Perhaps I should pour some of that wine into another glass for later."

"Oliver you touch my wine and your cell phone will be playing fart noises all day long," Felicity threatened.

"Ok," Oliver said sitting down on the couch. "What movie are we watching tonight?"

Felicity walked with her wine glass towards his DVD player, "It's a surprise."

She switched on the TV, the flashing breaking news sign caught her attention and she paused to listen. Detective Lance had been promoted to Captain after the arrest of several officials within the Police department. A reporter was standing inside the press room at City Hall where the Mayor was about to address the public.

"About damn time! I gave them the list one month ago," Felicity grumbled.

"You knew about this?" Oliver asked.

"Detective Lance approached me about some of my cases but I told him no," she revealed.

"Yes you very strict about confidentiality," Oliver muttered.

"I have to build my reputation as a trust worthy investigator. If I hand over your information just because people ask, no one will trust me," Felicity said, "Besides, I gave him the information I had been personally working on. It was more complete than what he wanted anyway."

The Mayor introduced Captain Lance and next to him she saw Officer Boland, only the Mayor had introduced her as Detective Dinah Drake.

"That's Laurel's cousin," Oliver stated pointing at the TV screen.

"Who?" Felicity asked.

"Dinah, she's named after Laurel's mother. I met her on a trip to Central City once. Last I heard she was working as a cop there. I guess Quentin wanted someone in the department he could trust."

"I guess so," Felicity said switching the TV over to the DVD.

"Empire Strikes Back again!" Oliver groaned.

Felicity gave him a very wide smile.

* * *

Saturday morning Felicity awoke to the pleasant smell of breakfast. She got out of bed, threw on Oliver's shirt and padded her way towards the kitchen where she saw Oliver focusing intently on the frying pan. With a flick of his wrist he sent the contents up in the air and then caught them in the frying pan. Form what she could see it looked like he was making her an omelette.

She briefly considered walking up behind him and wrapping her arms around him but with him that close to the stove something might go wrong. So, instead she walked around the island into his line of sight and jumped on the stool by the island.

"So what's smells so yummy?" she asked. Oliver loved it when she complimented his cooking skills. He preened with all the attention.

He looked up at her with a wide smile, "I thought this morning we could have an omelette."

Felicity nodded but she knew Oliver well. This wasn't just any omelette; this was going to be a gourmet omelette.

"And what's in this omelette," she asked putting her elbow down on the counter and resting her head on it while she watched him. She loved watching Oliver cook. He looked so free and happy.

"Oh a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but no nuts. This is absolutely a nut free loft!" he said seriously.

"Oliver, you can have nuts if you want nuts," Felicity reminded him.

Oliver furiously shook his head negatively. "No, your allergy, is my allergy."

Felicity sighed. There was no point arguing with Oliver about this. He was adamant that no nuts should ever enter her presence again.

He picked up a plate he had nearby and rolled the omelette out of the pan onto the plate and placed it in front of her.

"This one is yours," he said to her.

"Where is yours?" she asked.

He reached behind him to open the stove and pulled out a plate with an omelette already on it. "Just keeping it warm while I did yours," he told her. He opened the cutlery draw, took out two knives and forks and then sat down besides her.

She took a knife and fork from him and cut into her omelette while Oliver anxiously awaited her reaction. She placed a small amount on her fork, Oliver had loaded it with cheese because she loved cheese and as she moved the fork up to her mouth the cheese stretched thin just like when you pull a slice of pizza from a crust. She blew on the bite to cool it down a bit and then ingested it. A burst of flavour hit her palette. Besides the cheese she could pick out, bell peppers, garlic and lamb. He must have used the left over lamb from the lamb leg he roasted the night before. Felicity made sure to over emphasis her positive reaction. When Oliver was satisfied that she was enjoying the meal he started to eat his.

"So are we following Malcolm today?" he asked excitedly.

Felicity had to force herself not to roll her eyes. Ever since she agreed to let him help he had been throwing out ideas constantly about how they should go about finding Malcolm's secret girlfriend.

"Yes Oliver, we are following Malcolm today. As soon as we finish breakfast we'll check the location of his phone and follow him," she repeated blandly.

"Good," his excitement hadn't waned at all with her tone.

When they had finished breakfast, cleaned the kitchen, showered and changed, Felicity pulled up her cell phone tracking programme. She had already hacked into Malcolm's phone earlier in the week. It showed he was still home.

She looked up at Oliver, "He's still home. We can either wait here till he leaves, or we can wait somewhere outside his house."

"Could the girlfriend be there?" Oliver asked.

"No you know Tommy's tried dropping in the house at all odd hours and he's never found anything. Malcolm either has another apartment he meets her at or he goes to her place."

"So we just sit here and wait?" he asked.

"Yeap," Felicity replied popping the P.

Oliver looked crestfallen.

"You could get some of your QC paperwork done while we wait," she suggested.

"That's even worse than waiting," he groaned. "I rather raid the Triad warehouse successfully again."

Felicity cocked a disapproving eyebrow.

"Alright, alright, I'll do the work my assistant sent me home with," Oliver agreed dejectedly.

"Excellent."

At minutes to twelve Malcolm was on the move and Oliver was more than happy to get down to the car to start their surveillance.

"Someone has a lunch date," Felicity mused as she sat in the car with Oliver.

They picked up Malcolm on a street with several high end restaurants. Felicity thought he would be meeting his date there in a private room but she was surprised when he collected takeout and returned to his car. They followed Malcolm to an area of town that Felicity knew very well.

"This is your street," Oliver said taking the turn that led him to her house.

"Yes but where is he going?" Felicity asked. "There are no high end apartments in this area."

"Uh Felicity," Oliver said a bit uncomfortable, "He's stopping in front of your house."

"You don't think he could be seeing my, nah, not possible," Felicity said with a shake of her head.

Oliver pulled aside a few houses away and they watched Malcolm get out of the car and head up to her door, where it opened and her mother jumped into Malcolm's arms.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Felicity said shutting her eyes tightly.

"If you're gonna puke, please do it outside the car. I can't go home with vomit in the car again," Oliver deadpanned.

"Gee thanks for the support," Felicity said sarcastically. "Let's get out of here. I've seen enough."

* * *

It took Felicity all of Saturday and Sunday to process what she had seen. Her mother was Malcolm Merlyn's secret girlfriend. According to Tommy the relationship had been going on a while. Felicity had no clue her mother was seeing anyone. That was probably due to the fact that Felicity always shut down any talk about her mother's love life because it always led to her mother prying into hers.

She had told Tommy that if the girlfriend checked out she wouldn't tell him who it was but now that she knew it was her mother, she felt like she had to tell him. She decided to do it on Monday with Oliver. He used his lunch hour to meet her at Verdant. They would tell Tommy together.

Oliver stopped Felicity from opening the door to Tommy's office.

"I've learnt the hard way to knock first, announce your presence then give him a minute, before entering," he advised her.

"Oh," Felicity said dropping her hand to the side.

Oliver knocked loudly on the door, "Tommy it's me. I have Felicity with me. We need to talk."

"Give me a minute," came Tommy's reply.

"You see," Oliver said softly to her.

They heard what sounded like some giggling and opening and closing of draws.

"You can come in now," Tommy said a few minutes later.

They walked into the office to find it completely in order with a composed Tommy sitting behind his desk. Felicity was about to explain why they were there when Oliver stopped her.

"Tommy we have something confidential to discuss with you," Oliver stated before nodding at the desk, "Whoever is under the desk, should leave."

"Oliver, I have no one under the desk," Tommy replied innocently.

"It's about your father," Oliver stated seriously.

Tommy looked under the desk, "It's time for you to go," he said.

Felicity's jaw dropped open when a redhead girl appeared.

"Can you pass me my panties?" she asked shyly.

Tommy opened the top draw of his desk and passed her a blouse as well as her red thong.

Oliver turned away looking up at the ceiling and Felicity followed suit.

"He hid her clothes in his draw?" Felicity whispered to Oliver.

"This isn't the first time he's done this. Don't be surprised if he isn't wearing pants below the desk," Oliver told her.

"Seriously!"

When a fully clothed girl walked passed them and exited the office they turned back to Tommy.

"Lay it on me," he said.

Felicity arched her eyebrow at him.

"I didn't mean it like that," Tommy insisted.

"Really? It's hard to believe that considering you just had a naked woman under your desk and you're not wearing any pants!" Felicity commented dryly.

"Smoak!" Tommy's eyes widened. "How did you know I'm not wearing pants?"

"Tommy get dressed we will meet you outside. I need a drink," she said.

She exited the office and walked straight to the area the whiskey was kept. Oliver arched an eyebrow.

"What? I feel like I need something harder if I have to deal with Tommy. Were you this bad?" she asked.

Oliver smirked, "Oh I was much worse."

Worse! How could Oliver be worse than Tommy? She suspected that it was much easier to take a shot of the whiskey than to try to figure that out.

"I've driven you to drink Smoak?" Tommy's teasing voice drifted down to her from his office doorway.

She turned to look at him and was satisfied that he was fully dressed. She picked up the bottle and started walking down the bar, to the back room that would lead her back into the club. Oliver was already seated at a table waiting for them.

"You going to pay for that Smoak?" Tommy asked eyeing the bottle dubiously.

"I'll deduct it from your bill," Felicity snarked.

"My bill? You mean you didn't do this for free?" Tommy asked genuinely shocked.

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him, he couldn't be serious. "Tommy you don't meet any of my criteria for pro-bono work."

"A favour for your boyfriend's best friend?" Tommy pushed.

"Tommy, just shut up and pay Felicity for her work. You can more than afford it," Oliver said annoyed.

"Hey, I may not have that money anymore with the girlfriend on the scene," Tommy said prompting Felicity to break the news to him.

"Speaking of which, I don't know how to say this Tommy but your dad is dating ..."

"Oh God, its bad isn't it. It's some floozy!" Tommy interrupted her.

"She is not a floozy!" Felicity replied upset.

Oliver placed his hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Let me do this," he said and she nodded.

"Wait is my father seeing you!" Tommy said aghast. "Is that why you look so serious? Is Felicity just a cover to hide the fact you're seeing an older man?"

"I am in no way romantically involved with your father," Oliver said with a pained expression on his face. "Felicity is my girlfriend Tommy. You know that."

"Who is he seeing then?" Tommy asked curiously.

"My mother," Felicity said horrified.

Tommy stared at Felicity, "Repeat that please because it sounded like you said your mother."

"That's exactly what she said Tommy," Oliver said.

"Oh," was all the response that Tommy could muster.

* * *

Felicity and Tommy decided to confront their parents on a Saturday. She had casually asked her neighbours about strange cars in the neighbourhood and some said they saw a high end vehicle parked in front of her house on Saturdays. She assumed they had a standing Saturday lunch date. Tommy waited with Felicity down the street behind a tree for Malcolm to arrive.

After about ten minutes Malcolm arrived in a different car and exited the vehicle with takeout.

Felicity didn't look at the front door scene but Tommy did.

"Gross! My eyes! Why didn't you warn me your mother was going to stick her tongue down my father's throat?" Tommy complained.

"Well what did you think was going to happen?" Felicity snapped at him.

"I don't know, the door opens and he enters without the whole PDA!"

Felicity ignored Tommy and started walking towards her house. His hand enclosed around her wrist and he pulled her back.

"Do we have to go in there now? It's probably my dad's turn to stick something in your mother," he said with wide horrified eyes.

"Tommy I did not need that mental image," Felicity said trying to shake it from her head.

"Sorry," Tommy replied.

"Look it's better to do this before they start than after," Felicity explained to him.

"Why?" Tommy asked not understanding her logic.

"Do you want to see them all high on each other?" Felicity asked him.

"No," he responded firmly.

"Then let's get our feet moving." Felicity marched right up to the door and entered. She was positive her mother would want to eat first and then do whatever they did after. She found her mom and Malcolm seated around their little dining table about to start to eat.

"Great we need to talk," Felicity said.

Tommy appeared behind her, "Oh Lasagne from the Bertinelli's, my favourite."

"Tommy we are here to talk not eat," Felicity admonished.

"We can do both," Tommy said taking the seat next to his father.

Felicity sighed. There was plenty of food. He probably bought food for after they ... Felicity stopped her train of thought right there. She went into the kitchen collected two plates and cutlery. She placed them on the table and then went back for four wine glasses and the bottle of wine Oliver had given her mother as a birthday present. She briefly wondered what Malcolm had given her and then decided that it was probably best not to know. Malcolm took the bottle from her opened it and filled the glasses. Felicity took a seat next to her mother.

"How long have you known?" Malcolm asked getting straight to the point while Tommy helped himself to garlic bread.

"A week," Felicity revealed.

"How did you figure it out?" Donna asked. "I was very careful. I cleaned up all the evidence that Malcolm was ever here, even burnt scented candles to hide the scent of his cologne. Was it one of the neighbours asking about his cars? He always changed which one he came in."

"No Tommy knew he had a girlfriend and he hired me to find out who she was. It was fairly simple to follow Malcolm here," Felicity informed them.

"I should probably pay closer attention when I'm driving," Malcolm admitted.

They fell into silence while everyone helped themselves to food. Tommy seemed so invested in the food; he had forgotten what they wanted to ask them.

"So how long has this been going on?" Felicity asked pointing between Malcolm and Donna.

"Nine months and guess what?" Donna said excitedly her pitch getting higher. "We're getting married," she thrust her hand out for Felicity to see a beautiful large princess cut diamond on her ring finger.

Tommy spit the food out of his mouth in shock.

"Manners Tommy, the way you've been eating Donna will think I raised a pig!" Tommy scowled.

"Oh he's just a bit surprised Colm," Donna said using her pet name for Malcolm. "Give him a few minutes."

"Isn't it kind of soon to be getting married? I mean your children just found out you've been seeing each other," Tommy pointed out.

"Soon? You're one to talk. I remember an incident where you married a Vegas stripper after knowing her for one hour," Malcolm countered.

"I was drunk," Tommy defended.

"I'm not. I know what I have with Donna and this is the first time since your mother passed away that I actually feel happy." Malcolm seemed very sincere in his speech. "I love her and she loves me."

Tommy deflated immediately.

"Felicity," Donna said taking her hand in hers, "I'm happy and I want this."

Who was Felicity to stand in the way of her mother's happiness?

"Ok," Felicity relented.

"Great our first family meal together," Donna chirped happily. "We'll have to invite Oliver to the next one." She stopped and looked at Tommy, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Felicity's mind was immediately thrust back to the redhead that came out of Tommy's office.

Malcolm snorted at the question.

"No," Tommy said. "I'm still sowing my wild oats."

"Whenever you're ready, I know some very nice girls."

Felicity smirked. Her mother was so going to poke her nose into Tommy's love life. At least she was no longer the sole target of her mother's prying.

"There's something I've been thinking about and as we are all here I would like to discuss it. I want Donna to move in with me. Tommy lives in his own apartment and I hear you spend all your time by Oliver," Malcolm stated.

"Oh that's a wonderful idea Colm," Donna said reaching across the table to hug Malcolm.

Felicity quickly grabbed a hold of her wine glass to save it from the fate of the others which were knocked over from Donna's actions. Tommy was busy on his phone.

"Oh I've made a mess of things," Donna said looking at the toppled glasses while Felicity took a sip of her wine.

"I'll clean up," Malcolm volunteered.

"My dad is being domestic. He's never domestic."

"I guess he really is in love," Felicity said.

"Oh by the way, I sent a message to Oliver that you're moving in with him," Tommy smirked.

"You did what!" Felicity screeched.

Her phone pinged with a message from Oliver. It had a large smiley face and he was asking when he could swing by to pick up her things.

* * *

The seasons change and Hanukkah/Christmas arrived. Hanukkah was celebrated first at Malcolm's with a close family gathering. The wedding was three months away and that dominated most of the talk. Her mother and Thea had also taken to dropping very large hints that Oliver should pop the question. The dinner was also a good opportunity for the rest of the family to meet Helena, Tommy's girlfriend of three months set up by Donna.

After their family get together was the Queen's Gala. Felicity and Oliver had managed to keep their relationship on the down low for a long time but Oliver wanted to go public. It had to happen eventually and Felicity agreed to do it at the Gala. Moira informed her that during the first hour of the Gala she had to stand with the Queen family and greet the guests as they arrived.

Felicity had plans to lounge about the loft all day in her pyjamas and then get ready in the evening but those plans were nixed when her mother, along with Thea, Moira and Helena knocked on the door and promptly dragged her to a spa day. They got facials, manicures and pedicures. Afterwards, with a slight detour for Felicity to collect her dress at the loft, Felicity was taken back to Queen Mansion with Thea and Moira. There were hairdressers and make-up artists waiting to attend to them.

Felicity was instructed to get dressed in one of the guest bedrooms because Moira was sure if she tried to get ready in Oliver's room, they wouldn't make it down to the Gala at all. Felicity had to agree that Moira had a point after all there was a precedent set when they failed to make it to Tommy's huge Halloween party for precisely that reason.

Felicity had selected a deep green gown for the Gala. It was strapless with a fitted bodice on top and a skirt that flowed outwards from her hips. She felt a bit like a Disney princess but she was told she had to dress like a Queen for the Gala. Moira had taken one look at the dress and then disappeared. She returned about ten minutes later with an emerald and diamond jewellery set from the Queen family vault. The set alone was worth more than Felicity had in the bank but Moira refused to take no for an answer. She had to admit the expensive set added to her look.

At the appointed time, Felicity opened the door to head downstairs to greet the guests with the rest of the family.

"I've been waiting for you," Oliver said as soon as she stepped out of the room. He was leaning against the wall besides her door dressed in a tux. It was unfair how good he looked. His own eyes turned headed as he looked her up and down.

"You're wearing my colour. I like it," he growled in a deep sexy tone.

"I thought green was for Christmas," she replied innocently.

"Let's get going. If we wait any longer I'm only going to push you back into the bedroom and ravish you," Oliver admitted.

"No we can't have that. Your mother would go ballistic," Felicity replied.

"She does have grand plans for us tonight," Oliver reluctantly admitted.

He offered her his arm and Felicity looped her arm through his.

"You know my mother really does like you," Oliver said thoughtfully as he guided her down the corridor to the stairs that led to the foyer.

"What makes you say that?" she asked looking up at him.

"Well, one, she invited you to greet the guests with us. She's never done that before, not even with Laurel," Oliver told her.

Felicity snorted, "You didn't really have any steady relationship before me."

"Touché," Oliver admitted as they took the first step down.

"What's two?" she asked using her free hand to hold on to the railing. The last thing she wanted to do was go crashing down the stairs.

"Those emeralds you're wearing," Oliver said. "They belonged to my maternal Great

Grandmother. My mother was very close to her and she wouldn't just give that set to anyone."

"She just lent it to me to wear tonight," Felicity brushed off.

Oliver shook his head, "Nope, she's given them to you. Thea isn't fond of emeralds so my mother always said the set would go to my wife."

Felicity paused on the steps and Oliver stopped with her.

"You ok," he asked.

"Oliver, Felicity, stop dilly dallying and join us. The first guests are about to walk through the door," Moira said at the base of the stairs.

"I'm fine," Felicity assured him.

They met Moira, Robert and Thea at the bottom of the stairs. While Roy was at the Gala he wasn't quite up to greet the guests level yet. Robert gave her a stiff nod and she acknowledged his presence. They had agreed long ago for Oliver's sake to put the past behind them and move forward. They would most likely never be friends but at least they could be polite to each other.

Those first guests were unsurprisingly her mother, Malcolm, Tommy and Helena. They were followed by a series of QC corporate execs, her favourite of which was Walter Steele. Lately he had taken to trying to convince her to take up the Chief Technical Officer post on the technology side of the business. That position had been suspiciously vacant for a while. From the glint in his eyes she knew he had a new offer for her.

His last proposal detailed a way for her to keep Smoak Detective Agency running and work at QC. He proposed that she could change the organisational structure of Smoak Detective Agency and run it similar to a law firm. She would be the senior partner that could pick and choose her cases and Roy would be the junior partner. The new girl she had hired a month ago, Sin, would be the equivalent of an Associate. Roy had obtained his private detective license and they were working on getting Sin her GED, then her license. Sin had come to work for her as a favour to Sara, who had found the girl homeless in the Glades. Roy had moved out of the apartment above the office and moved into Felicity's old place which had become available when Felicity moved in with Oliver. She was then able to offer Sin the place and the responsibility of opening the office up every day. Walter argued that with that structure she could still help people and work on developing cutting edge technology with QC which was what she always wanted to do.

His proposals were becoming more and more tempting. It didn't help that Oliver was 1000% for the idea of her working at QC. Felicity thought they might be together too much but he assured her he would only see her at meetings, much like in the lair when he saw her before and after missions. During missions they both switched over to their alter personas of Arrow and Overwatch, a name he had given her to hide her identity over the comms. Their night personas were all business and Oliver didn't count that as quality time spent as a couple. He was positive they could handle a working relationship at QC as well.

The next guests in line were Captain Lance and his family inclusive of Detective Drake. Sara wasted no time in hugging her.

"You're looking gorgeous, right Oliver?" Sara teased her while glancing at Oliver for his reaction.

"She is always gorgeous," Oliver told her.

"Oooh someone wants brownie points," Sara said mischievously.

"I don't need any brownie points," Oliver boasted.

"So you claim," Sara said before turning to Felicity, "Can you..."

"I will," Felicity cut her off knowing she was asking her to let Nyssa know where to find her when Nyssa arrived. "I'll tell her you're conspiring with my mother."

"It's not our fault that the real blondes know how to have fun," Sara jabbed at her before walking off in search of Donna. Those two were quite a handful and Felicity regrets the day that she introduced Sara to her mother.

Laurel had come with her fiancé, Ted Grant, the person whom she had been sneaking off to meet with regularly. Ted owned a gym in the Glades. He was a retired boxer and a surprisingly good match for Laurel. Oliver had his reservations but the man had slowly grown on him.

After the Lances, Felicity didn't recognise anyone else. The arrivals were either friends of Robert and Moira, or important clients of QC. Felicity felt like a prized pony that Moira showed off to them. At the end of the hour, she and Oliver were instructed to go inside and mingle.

Felicity garnered an inordinate amount of attention from everyone. Oliver did his best to shield her as much as possible but there were so many questions about her and Oliver that she felt very overwhelmed. Oliver took the decision to cut their night short when he felt she had had enough. They didn't stay at the Mansion that night, instead Oliver borrowed one of his father's sports cars and they went for a nice drive along the country road to relax. Felicity found herself unwinding easily. Oliver eventually pulled over at a small bed and breakfast and they remained there till the next day.

The papers in the morning all covered the news about Oliver Queen's new girlfriend and darling of the Queen family, Felicity Smoak. There was a lot of gossip about her and her mother each bagging a billionaire. Her mother had the owner of Merlyn Global and she had the heir to Queen Consolidated. Oliver didn't let her read any of the nasty comments reassuring her that the only thing that mattered was their love for each other.

Three months later, Oliver would bend down on one knee in Felicity's corner office at QC and ask her to marry him. In the euphoria of her yes, he would finally get her to cave on the no sex in the office rule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the story.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be up next week.


End file.
